11 April 2021 News/Editorial
Spring catches so far in 2021 remind us of 2009 and 2010. We measure spring catches here to the end of June.
2009 1,147
2010 1,445
With nearly 2.5 of the 5 months (Feb to June) gone in 2021, I would be surprised if the catch so far exceeds 300. To cries of outrage, following a similarly poor start to the 2010 season, the RTC imposed full 100% catch and release to the end of June. How times change. It is inconceivable now that we would be killing any of the very few spring salmon there are, but back then abuse and vitriol were rife at those who had imposed such an outrageous policy.
After last year, we are having a reality check. Maybe 2020 did turn a corner in the numbers of salmon coming back here in the summer, but at the risk of sounding gloomy, the summer is all we have got. The spring shows no sign whatever of recovery, especially the early spring, and those of us who are on the river a lot know that fresh autumn salmon are a rarity. Angling in November is now the least popular month.
Fisheries Management Scotland have just published their (2021) review of 2020 at this link http://fms.scot/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/210323-2021-Annual-Review.pdf. It is well worth reading to see what is going on to try to rescue our endangered species, the Atlantic salmon. Any smugness at Tweed’s rod catch being higher than any other river should be severely tempered by the bigger picture and continuing trend of declining numbers overall.
That Scotland’s most precious commodity, its Atlantic salmon and the glorious variety of beautiful rivers and lochs it comes back to from Greenland, the Faroes and all places in between, are in serious distress should not be doubted. Don’t be fooled by what happened here last summer, even if it happens again in the next few months.
If it was up to me, I would go 100% catch and release all year round, and be just as unpopular as in 2010 when imposing 100% catch and release for the spring. I don’t care what you think of me, or how unpopular it would be. Tweed anglers killed over 1,050 salmon in 2020, far far more than any other salmon river in the UK, for all I know as many as all the other Scottish salmon rivers put together. The Spey caught 5,622 in a shorter season than ours, yet killed just 118 (probably mostly badly hooked ie not deliberate). The Tay and Dee have 100% catch and release policies year round.
Our American tenants had stopped killing salmon in 1987 when they first came here. In 2020, 33 years later, we just don’t get it. The Atlantic salmon is in a fight for its very survival. It is a privilege and an honour to be able to catch a salmon, after its epic, dangerous journey of 1,000s of miles, to the river, and pool, where you are fishing.
Why on earth would you then kill it?
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As part of the process of finding out why salmon numbers are low historically, the Tweed is continuing its work in trying to discover why so many descending smolts in April and May never make it to the sea. If I understand it correctly, one of the many oddities is that once smolts get below Kelso on their journey east, they are pretty much certain to get to the sea, to Berwick and beyond.
But why do so many die, in ways as yet unknown, before they get from the Gala Water (where they are tagged and released) as far as Kelso? With losses apparently as high as 60%, this represents a potentially massive (avoidable?) loss of young salmon before they even get to the sea.
This year’s acoustic tagging of 150 smolts is specifically aimed at finding out why and where the deaths are occurring, in order that ultimately something can be done to stop it.
The flyer gives some information https://www.tweedfoundation.org.uk/SPONSOR_A_SMOLT_FLYER.pdf
and the link here
https://tweedfoundation.maps.arcgis.com/apps/Cascade/index.html?appid=0ddf3ebbe65045b9941e96aa209dccf3&folderid=3dffd4191d1e4f6c850c950e57cee08c gives much more.
My appeal here is to ask for any donations please to help with the very considerable cost; it takes no great mathematician to work out that 150 tags at £275 each is £41,250, not something easily borne by a small research charity on its own like the Tweed Foundation.
I do not mean this in any way as discouragement, but my runner (smolt) in 2020 stopped for a few cups of coffee, the odd 40 winks after lunch, but struggled on at a leisurely pace to reach Berwick in its own good time, if rather more in the manner of Dobbin than Frankel.
Please help if you can, and, of course, any amount £25 up to £275 would be terrific, thank you.
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