news/editorial

27 August 2017 News/Editorial

A new weekly service starts this week, thanks to William Younger of Old Melrose seeking to answer the perfectly valid criticism that nowhere can you find a Tweed weekly catch total which is anything like accurate.

He has kindly agreed to report to both Tweedbeats and Fishtweed weekly every Sunday so that these figures can be used on both websites.

His first report reads as follows:

“The following is the total catch figures for the week 21st Aug to 26th Aug 2017 and includes those beats reporting catches on Fishtweed, Tweedbeats and others.

Total catch last week: 224 Salmon and 34 Sea Trout

Total caught so far this season: 3,397 Salmon and 1,145 Sea Trout

I estimate that this represents around 85% of actual fish caught and will continue to try and improve accuracy over the next few weeks”

We have always resisted reporting total catches up to now because the accuracy was so poor given the number of beats not reporting. William is tackling this, and at 85%, hopefully rising above 90% accuracy, we believe totals are now worth showing.

Hopefully readers of both sites will find this interesting, not just in themselves but also when comparing to figures shown, not here but elsewhere, for other rivers.

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With reliable reports of three seals resting up in the early morning on the green (next to the river) in Coldstream, last week’s effort (and the video of that salmon-eating seal) seems to have stirred correspondents.

The problem identified by many is that predators, unlike us, do not know when to stop. They will go on eating, and killing, if necessary until there is nothing left, when they will move on somewhere else.

On pisciverous birds, see this, most gratefully received, from Christopher Zawadski:

“Many years ago, in the days when control was legal, a friend who owned a beat on the Tay showed me the stomach contents of a merganser which had been killed at midday. It contained exactly 67 alevins and 1 salmon parr. That was for its morning feed. An RSPB member who was present expressed absolute disbelief. There is little doubt that goosanders eat even more than mergansers, especially parr and smolts, so it is crucial that a major survey on predation of all types be instigated at once. A photograph of the merganser and of its contents was displayed in the owner's fishing hut for many years but sadly was lost when the entire hut was swept away in a flood.”

Some years ago, a goosander, most regrettably, died down this way, whereupon it disgorged…….well, what you can see in one of these pictures.

The caption says it all.

The other picture is of the only 30lber I have ever caught.

Now imagine that each one of those 6 dead little salmon, the breakfast of just one goosander on one day, with its lunch and dinner still to come that day, to say nothing of the other 364 days of the year, had the potential to grow into that 30lber…….but none of them ever made it, even as far as the sea.

There is, of course, the view that it does not matter, because 95% of alevins and fry do not make it to smolt stage anyway…...but that argument falls flat the later they are killed. Smolts are part of the precious, comparatively few, 5% that do make it, so that goosanders and cormorants killing them is disastrous.

For that reason, the River Tweed Commission’s licence is to disturb and disrupt, and if necessary kill a specified limited number, of goosanders and cormorants while the main smolt run is on in the spring.

Criticisms of all this, some more valid than others, include (a) disbelief at the regular (quarterly) cormorant and goosander count numbers, which show no overall increase in numbers of birds over many years (invalid, I have been on those counts and they are both well done and comprehensive in coverage), and (b) that smolts do not just run downriver from March to May, so why are we not protecting them for the rest of the summer and early autumn (valid, as there is evidence that smolts do not just run in the spring)?

Then more from another correspondent, Colin Nicholson, from the lower river:

“Goosanders...I fish the lower river and saw the other night, a flock of at least 35 going up, followed by another flock of about 23, then a few minutes later 10 more birds... that’s approx 70 in a short stretch of the river which makes the research report look inaccurate.” and

“It's Cormorant Bonanza time again at Paxton ! !.......I was out on Tweed below Paxton late evening yesterday...a flock of 30+ flew upriver then headed north towards Whiteadder..sad days for a breeding ground”.

The bottom line with all this is that whether it is seals, goosanders or cormorants, the one thing that is unarguable is that they are all here because they are finding plenty to eat.

The issue that needs to be assessed and agreed by everyone is……..”what damage is being done to the numbers of salmon returning to the Tweed because of what they are all eating?”

Only then will we be able to persuade the powers that be that something must be done about it.

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Although Monday last week could hardly be described as a bonanza, it was certainly good with over 100 salmon caught in the day.

Everything changed mid-week when, for no very obvious reason (theories, as ever, abound as to why), the fish went off. This had uncomfortable echoes of last year when reports from the lower beats were of plenty of fish…..but they could not catch them.

As for the coming week, the first half at least looks settled, if windy, perhaps becoming more unsettled later in the week.

What will this mean for the fishing?

You tell me.