News

Proposed River Categories for 2019

The proposed conservation categories for our rivers has been released for next year by the Scottish Government. These gradings are out for consultation and not the final gradings, but we will not be putting in an objection to these assessments so they are likely to remain at these gradings.

River Carron: Category 1

River Evelix: Category 3

River Oykel SAC (includes River Cassley): Category 1

River Shin: Category 1

More information on the proposed river gradings can be found on the Scottish Government’s website https://scotland.shinyapps.io/sg-salmon-conservation/

Resources for best practice Catch and Release

Keepemwet fishing is a great website we came across with some fantastic tips for best practice catch and release. This is so important because the better condition a fish is in when it returns to the water, the more likely is is to survive and spawn. Have a browse through their website here; https://www.keepemwet.org/tips#keepemwet-tips

Evelix eels – 17th August 2018

A quick site on the Evelix today yielded plenty of salmon parr and even a couple of these characters! Good escape artists, it takes a while for them to calm down in the anaesthetic. They may make some people squirm, but the lifecycle of these creatures is incredible. Nobody has seen eels spawning in the wild, but it is suspected that they do so somewhere in the Sargasso sea on the other side of the Atlantic. The young, “glass eels” then get caught in the gulf stream which brings them to UK waters where they become adults, before finally swimming back across the Atlantic to spawn.

Sean Robertson – Science & Mitigation Officer

Invasive Species – 14th August 2018

I thought I would post in regards to invasive species within Scotland. Kyle Fisheries was involved with the Scottish Mink Initiative which aimed to control this invasive mammal population. Quite successful, however we continue to put out mink rafts in response to any sightings. Invasive species pose a threat to our native wildlife which is why control is so important.

Scottish Invasive Species Initiative is the new iteration of the Scottish Mink initiative, seeking to control Japanese Knotweed, Giant Hogweed, and Himalayan Balsam, American skunk cabbage, in addition to mink across Scotland. Although not formally a part of SISI, we will endeavor to control or assist with control of invasives within our catchment where we can. If you think you have seen any of these within the Kyle of Sutherland District, please message our Facebook page or drop an email to admin@kylefisheries.org with the species, location and date when you saw it. If you are able to send any photos as well that would greatly assist with identification and location.

More information can be found at www.invasivespecies.scot

Sean Robertson – Science & Mitigation Officer

National Electofishing Sites – Alladale 3rd August 2018

This week we’ve been up at Alladale Wilderness Reserve doing some work for the Government’s “National Electrofishing Programme for Scotland” (NEPS). This programme has designated 30 randomly selected sites to each fishery board across their catchments, with the overall aim of assessing the status of juvenile salmon at a catchment level. As these sites are randomly selected they are not in areas we would usually fish, so getting to them and fishing them has been a bit of a challenge!

Glen More had salmon present, and today’s site on the Alladale river had a few trout, despite not being great habitat. Marine Scotland are going to produce a review of the project in March, if it appears to work well then there’s a possibility that this may feed into the designation of the conservation limits alongside the rod catches. However, this wouldn’t happen until a few years down the line to work out any kinks.

More information on this sampling programme can be found here; Gov.scot sampling programme

Sean Robertson – Science & Mitigation Officer