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Salmon and sea trout fishery statistics for the 2020 season show a large drop in catches


By David Porter

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Scotland’s Chief Statistician today published the salmon and sea trout fishery statistics for the 2020 season.

Reported rod catch of salmon (45,366) is the third lowest since records began, and 92 per cent of the previous five-year average.

Catches have decreased from a high in 2010 and the 2020 records are consistent with a general pattern of decline in numbers of wild salmon returning to Scotland, although the impact of the coronavirus pandemic complicates comparisons with previous years.

Rod effort information shows a decrease in effort during the spring and early summer of 2020, when stay at home orders and travel restrictions were in place, compared to 2019.

Of spring salmon captured by rod, 99 per cent were released, as were 93 per cent of the total rod catch.

These are among the highest proportions of catch and release reported since records began.

Trends in rod catch vary among individual stock components.

Reported rod catch of spring salmon has generally declined since records began and, although it seems to have stabilised in recent years, it remains at a low level.

The reported rod catch in later months, generally increased up to 2010. It fell sharply over the next four years, and has subsequently remained at a low level.

Reported catches for the net and coble fisheries were the second lowest since records began whilst in 2020 no fish were retained from fixed engine fisheries for the first time.

Fish reported as being of farmed origin represented 1.3 per cent of the total catch.

This is an increase from 0.04 per cent in 2019 and the Clyde Coast region accounted for 98 per cent of reports, where almost 49,000 fish were reported to have escaped from a marine salmon farm in August 2020.

The total reported rod catch of sea trout (13,313) is the lowest since records began, and 74 per cent of the previous five-year average, although the impact of the coronavirus pandemic complicates comparisons with previous years.

Sea trout catches have fluctuated around a general trend of decline since the 1960s.

Of reported rod catch, 88 per cent were released, the second highest proportion since records began.


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