Ghillies speak as new conservation award is announced
At Cop 28 in Dubai in winter, Atlantic salmon were classified for the first time as endangered in the UK and the 2023 rod catch on Scotland’s rivers was the lowest on record
Scotland is not unique, with some rivers in Norway recently being closed to anglers as stocks moved below what was considered to be safe thresholds by Norwegian marine regulators
Now the SGA Fishing Group, which represents Scottish river ghillies and workers, is set to reward frontline action to help conserve salmon by launching the SGA Wild Salmon Conservation Award (see below)
The trophy will be presented for the first time at Moy Country Fair in the highlands on Friday August 2nd, with local MSP Fergus Ewing on hand to deliver the prize
Individuals taking action on riverbanks, or on rivers themselves, to restore habitats, flows or spawning grounds for salmon could be prime candidates for recognition
Similarly, individuals tackling invasive species, managing and monitoring predation levels, helping boost insect life or even those helping to evolve stocking best practice will all be considered
Nominations are now open for the annual award which will see names put forward by estates, river beats, angling clubs, river boards and trusts or anglers themselves
The main criteria will be people taking the types of action the iconic salmon will need in order for in-river numbers to be restored
The closing date for nominations, emailed to the HQ of the Scottish Gamekeepers Association (SGA) in Perth, is Friday July 26th
“Salmon do not face one or two challenges. The species requires action on many levels.
“There are great organisations looking at issues impacting salmon at sea. This award, however, is for those taking local actions, doing the small, joined-up things on our own rivers, that can make a real difference.
“Salmon provide us with so much. Without salmon and trout, you wouldn’t have freshwater pearl mussels, which are dependent upon them for new life. On another level, without salmon, we wouldn’t have the jobs and communities that have grown up around our rivers.
“We need action on all levels and that is what this award focuses on. It rewards action,” said Bill Drew of the SGA Fishing Group, a standalone fishing arm of the Scottish Gamekeepers Association.
In response to pressures facing wild salmon in Scotland, Scottish Government published the Scottish Wild Salmon Strategy in January 2022
In March this year a progress report was published on implementation of the Strategy
Whilst some work had been done, mostly around regulators addressing barriers to fish passage, ghillies would like to see greater urgency and adaptive management approaches which recognise the extent of the task ahead
"While there were some positives in the Salmon Strategy progress report, Scottish Government and the regulators need to apply greater urgency and they need to be bolder when it comes to some of the more difficult issues like in-river predation or reducing negative impacts from aquaculture," said Dee ghillie, Ali McEwan, of the SGA Fishing Group
