MSP Jackie Baillie’s interventions to protect salmon fishing on local rivers has been welcomed.
Gareth Bourhill, Secretary of the Loch Lomond Angling Improvement Association (LLAIA) backed the politician’s efforts to protect fishing rights on the Endrick Water.
It came after the LLAIA opposed the Scottish Government’s bid to downgrade the conservation status of the waterway.
The government conducts an annual consultation, calling for feedback on the proposed conservation grades for Scottish rivers for the following year.
Waterways are handed one of three gradings from ‘good’ to ‘poor’ – based on the probability of a river meeting its ‘conservation limit’ – with the latter meaning tough consequences for anglers.
Management action is required on rivers graded as ‘poor’, which brings with it mandatory catch and release fishing, designed to reduce exploitation of salmon stocks.
But the LLAIA opposed the Scottish Government’s intended action in line with the proposed Conservation of Salmon (Miscellaneous Amendment) (Scotland) Regulations 2024.
The association disputed the Scottish Government’s catch data on which the decision was based, pointing out that many landowners who hold salmon fishing rights had failed to return catch data – against legislation.
Secretary Gareth Bourhill also claimed that LLAIA’s water bailiffs, who monitor some stretches of the river, had observed the landing of undeclared catches on the waterway.
Details of landowners with salmon rights were also submitted by the organisation, after it emerged that the Scottish Government’s data had been based on catch returns submitted by just three landowners – once of which was the association itself – since 2017.
Mr Bourhill believes that such a discrepancy is detrimental to the interests of members of the Loch Lomond Angling Improvement Association and alleged that the lack of data means Wild Salmon numbers published annually by the Scottish Government’s Marine Directorate are misleading.
Despite a number of meetings with the Marine Directorate, the Scottish Government failed to act on the LLAIA’s concerns.
MSP Jackie stepped in to raise the LLAIA’s concerns with the Scottish Parliament’s Rural Affairs and Islands Committee last week, challenging Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands, Mairi Gougeon’s bid to seek approval of the salmon conservation gradings for the coming year.
She tabled a motion to annul the 2024 regulations.
The committee heard that almost half of all respondents to the Scottish Government’s consultation had concerns over how data was collected.
The Dumbarton constituency MSP, said: “I was happy to raise this issue with the committee on behalf of local anglers who have highlighted their concerns, not for the first time, that the Endrick will be downgraded based on flawed data.
“This issue has been raised so many times before with the Scottish Government, it feels like groundhog day.
“This not only has consequences for the local angling community but also potentially for anglers across Scotland.
“The Endrick links directly to Loch Lomond and the River Leven, so if the Scottish Government is allowed to downgrade the conservation status of salmon fishing waters based on flawed data, it could have consequences elsewhere.”
The motion was defeated, however, anglers have expressed their thanks to Jackie Baillie for raising the issue.
Gareth Bourhill, LLAIA Secretary, said: “I hope this sends a message to the Cabinet Secretary and her advisors.
“I am grateful to Jackie Baillie for once again highlighting our concerns and raising the issue of what we believe to be flawed catch data, being used to justify downgrading the conservation status of these important waters.”
