news/editorial

26 March 2017 News/Editorial

The immediacy of communications today is a wonderful thing, but with it comes risks and responsibilities.

I have in the past been highly critical of other websites and eg Salmon and Trout magazine for publishing pictures of fish being held well out of the water, and with one hand under the stomach, effectively squashing its internal organs in a way that nature never intended, especially if that fish still has 6 or 7 months to survive until it spawns.

There is also evidence from scientific studies done (I wrote about all this in detail last year) that any form of air exposure can damage fecundity/productivity of the affected fish when it comes to spawning.

We have been receiving (too many) photographs of fish being held well out of the water, or with one hand on the stomach, or both.

I attach no blame to this, for, in the excitement of catching a beautiful springer, it is easy to forget what you should and should not do, and yes of course everyone wants a picture, a memento, of it all before releasing the fish into the water.

It may seem churlish, curmudgeonly, to mention all this, and, if so, I apologise for that.

But if you look at Tweedbeats Instagram now, we have removed all those pictures of fish held incorrectly. What you will see is the many perfect examples of how to do it, fish in the water and either no hands on it at all, in a net, or just one on the tail with the fish in the water.

There really are only two rules:

1. Photograph the fish in the water if at all possible.

2. If you have to take it out of the water, take it out for less than 5 seconds, one hand on the tail and the other under the chin, not under its stomach.

Only those pictures of fish being dealt with properly, before release, will be shown on Tweedbeats Instagram.

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As we come to another week ruined by floods, it seems that proper spring fishing, because of the endlessly unsettled conditions, has never really got going this year.

Medium and long range forecasters seem to be confident that the next few weeks will offer something different, Azores and “blocking” highs keeping those troublesome Atlantic fronts, for the most part, at bay.

After last Wednesday’s deluges, Tweed is now fining down, but very slowly, and should be in good order this coming week. It may, at last, provide a true test of what fish there are in the river.

If the forecasters are right.

Despite their longer range predictions, later in the coming week, they now say, there could be more rain.

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Imagine the surprise at reading in yesterday’s Times, as an example of what good eggs those rodent beavery things are, the following:

“In Devon, the beavers built 13 dams on a 180 metre stretch of (enclosed) stream….”.

The article explains that this is a good thing, because all these dams will hold up flooding and remove harmful nitrogen, phosphates and sediment from the water.

It has always struck me as odd that we humans, endlessly resourceful and inventive, have, apparently, to rely on the humble beaver to sort out our flooding and pollution problems.

It is, of course, rubbish, just the desperate justifications of those hell-bent on bringing back beavers, with no regard for the damage they will do and the attendant costs.

We have 3,000 km of river on Tweed and its tributaries, all of which needs to be kept clear of obstructions to allow free passage of our migratory fish to the spawning beds.

13 dams on 180 metres…... and we have 3,000 km to look after.

How many dams is that?

You do the maths.