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Scottish Salmon and Sea Trout Catches

Salmon and Sea Trout Catches on Scottish Rivers

1952 - 2020

Salmon and sea trout catch statistics for many of the major Scottish rivers have been selected from the records gathered annually and held by Marine Scotland for the Scottish Government and the summarised data have been combined in the graphs shown below to illustrate the general trend in Scottish salmon catches and sea-trout catches throughout Scotland over the period 1952 to 2020. Further graphs depict the catches of salmon and sea trout by anglers from each major Scottish river for that same period.

Scottish Salmon and Sea Trout Catches

The graph below shows the total salmon and sea trout rod catches recorded on Scottish rivers from 1952 to 2020

Scottish salmon and sea trout catches

The fishery data held by Marine Scotland are obtained from returns made annually by the proprietors, occupiers or agents of salmon and sea trout fisheries throughout Scotland. Currently over 2,000 forms are issued annually, of which over 90% are returned.

Each fishery is required to provide the numbers and total weights of both salmon and sea trout, caught and retained in each month of the fishing season. Additionally, rod & line fisheries are required to provide the monthly numbers and total weights of those salmon, grilse and sea trout which were legally caught then released back into the river (caught and released).

Marine Scotland's records are amended when further information becomes available and updated annually in April when the statistics for the most recent fishing season are published.

 

Top 20 Scottish Salmon Rivers (Rod Catch 2020)

Top 20 Scottish Salmon Rivers

Note that figures are for the whole river catchments. For example, the Tay includes the River Earn, the Forth includes the Teith and all minor tributaries, e.g. the Allan, Carron, Almond etc. The Clyde includes the River Leven and Loch Lomond system. Ness includes Loch Ness, Garry and Moriston. Kyle of Sutherland includes Rivers Oykel, Shin, Cassley and Carron.

 

Top 20 Scottish Sea Trout Rivers (Rod Catch 2020)

Top 20 Scottish Sea Trout Rivers

As with the salmon statistics, figures are for the whole river catchments. For example, the Tay includes the River Earn, the Forth includes the Teith and all minor tributaries, e.g. the Allan, Carron, Almond etc. The Clyde includes the River Leven and Loch Lomond system. Hope includes river and loch Hope.

 

Declining Salmon and Sea Trout Numbers on Scotland's Rivers and Lochs

The total reported rod catch of wild salmon in Scotland for 2020 was 45,366. This is the third lowest on record and 92% of the previous 5-year average. The total reported Scottish rod catch of sea trout for 2020 was 13,313. This is the lowest on record and 74% of the previous five year average. Salmon and Sea Trout rod catches for individual Scottish salmon rivers are shown below in alphabetical order. The pattern of catches on those rivers varies widely over the period but the general trend in catches recorded on many Scottish rivers and lochs in recent years has been downward. Catches of Scottish sea trout appear to have been in general and fairly steady decline since the late nineteen eighties, while Scottish salmon catches have seen a marked general decline in the last decade. The factors affecting the numbers of salmon and sea trout returning to our rivers, and corresponding catches by anglers, are many and varied. They include climate change, the detrimental affects of aquaculture (salmon farming), pollution, predation, poor land and water management, water extraction, barriers to migration and over-fishing.

See further notes on threats to our migratory fish at the foot of this page

 

Salmon and Sea Trout Catch Statistics for the Major Fishing Rivers of Scotland

Salmon and Sea Trout Catches for each river are shown below

 

River Alness Salmon and Sea Trout Catches

River Alness salmon and sea trout catches

 

River Annan Salmon and Sea Trout Catches

River Annan salmon and sea trout catches

 

River Awe Salmon and Sea Trout Catches

River Awe salmon and sea trout catches

 

River Ayr Salmon and Sea Trout Catches

River Ayr salmon and sea trout catches

 

River Beauly Salmon and Sea Trout Catches

River Beauly salmon and sea trout catch statistics

 

River Bladnoch Salmon and Sea Trout Catches

River Bladnoch salmon and sea trout catches

 

River Brora Salmon and Sea Trout Catches

River Brora salmon and sea trout catches

 

River Carron (Wester Ross) Salmon and Sea Trout Catches

River Carron salmon and sea trout catches

 

River Clyde Salmon and Sea Trout Catches

River Clyde salmon and sea trout catches

 

River Conon Salmon and Sea Trout Catches

River Conon salmon and sea trout catches

 

River Cree Salmon and Sea Trout Catches

River Cree salmon and sea trout catches

 

River Creed Salmon and Sea Trout Catches

River Creed salmon and sea trout catches

 

River Dee (Aberdeenshire) Salmon and Sea Trout Catches

River Dee salmon and sea trout catches

 

River Deveron Salmon and Sea Trout Catches

River Deveron salmon and sea trout catches

 

River Don Salmon and Sea Trout Catches

River Don salmon and sea trout catches

 

River Doon Salmon and Sea Trout Catches

River Doon salmon and sea trout catches

 

River Ewe Salmon and Sea Trout Catches

River Ewe salmon and sea trout catches

 

River Findhorn Salmon and Sea Trout Catches

River Findhorn salmon and sea trout catches

 

River Forth Salmon and Sea Trout Catches

River Forth salmon and sea trout catches

 

River Girvan Salmon and Sea Trout Catches

River Girvan salmon and sea trout catches

 

River Halladale Salmon and Sea Trout Catches

River Halladale salmon and sea trout catches

 

River Helmsdale Salmon and Sea Trout Catches

River Helmsdale salmon and sea trout catches

 

River and Loch Hope Salmon and Sea Trout Catches

River Hope salmon and sea trout catches

 

River Inver Salmon and Sea Trout Catches

River Inver salmon and sea trout catches

 

River Irvine Salmon and Sea Trout Catches

River Irvine salmon and sea trout catches

 

River Kirkaig Salmon and Sea Trout Catches

River Kirkaig salmon and sea trout catches

 

Kyle of Sutherland Salmon and Sea Trout Catches

Kyle of Sutherland salmon and sea trout catches

 

River Laxford (Loch Stack and Loch More) Salmon and Sea Trout Catches

River Laxford salmon and sea trout catches

 

River Lochy Salmon and Sea Trout Catches

River Lochy salmon and sea trout catches

 

River Lossie Salmon and Sea Trout Catches

River Lossie salmon and sea trout catches

 

River Luce Salmon and Sea Trout Catches

River Luce salmon and sea trout catches

 

River Nairn Salmon and Sea Trout Catches

River Nairn salmon and sea trout catches

 

River Naver Salmon and Sea Trout Catches

River Naver salmon and sea trout catches

 

River Ness Salmon and Sea Trout Catches

River Ness salmon and sea trout catches

 

River Nith Salmon and Sea Trout Catches

River Nith salmon and sea trout catches

 

North Esk Salmon and Sea Trout Catches

North Esk salmon and sea trout catches

 

South Esk Salmon and Sea Trout Catches

South Esk salmon and sea trout catches

 

River and Loch Shiel Salmon and Sea Trout Catches

River and Loch Shiel salmon and sea trout catches

 

River Spey Salmon and Sea Trout Catches

River Spey salmon and sea trout catches

 

River Stinchar Salmon and Sea Trout Catches

River Stinchar salmon and sea trout catches

 

River Thurso Salmon and Sea Trout Catches

REiver Thurso salmon and sea trout catches

 

River Tay Salmon and Sea Trout Catches

River Tay salmon and sea trout catches

 

River Tweed Salmon and Sea Trout Catches

River Tweed salmon and sea trout catches

 

River Ugie Salmon and Sea Trout Catches

River Ugie salmon and sea trout catches

 

River Urr Salmon and Sea Trout Catches

River Urr salmon and sea trout catches

 

River Wick Salmon and Sea Trout Catches

River Wick salmon and sea trout catches

 

River Ythan Salmon and Sea Trout Catches

River Ythan salmon and sea trout catches

 

Reasons for Decining Salmon and Sea Trout Stocks in Scotland

Sea trout runs would appear to have been in general decline in many British rivers since the late nineteen eighties. The most dramatic, and catastrophic, decline in sea trout stocks occurred on the west coasts of Scotland and Ireland, coinciding with the rapid growth of salmon farms from around the mid nineteen eighties. At one time, some of the best of our Scottish sea trout fishing was to be found on the great sea trout lochs of the north west highlands, on Lochs Maree, Shiel, Eilt, Stack, More and Hope and on the great loughs of western Ireland. Sadly, the fishing on the great sea trout lochs is not what it once was. Stocks of sea trout have collapsed in recent decades. Catches on the once famous sea trout lochs and rivers are a mere fraction of what they were. Boats on the lochs lie idle, hotel rooms empty.

A scientific study on the sea lice problem associated with the salmon farms ["Patterns of Sea Lice Infestations on Scottish West Coast Sea Trout: Survey Results 1997 - 2000" published by The Association of West Coast Fisheries Trusts] reported:

    "In areas with epizootics (outbreaks of disease affecting many fish at one time), lice can directly cause the mortality of 30% to 50 % of all migrating sea trout smolts and 48% to 86% of all wild salmon smolts..… Studies in Norway, Ireland and Scotland estimate that, in salmon farming areas, most sea lice larvae are produced from farmed salmon, due to the far greater numbers of farmed hosts relative to wild hosts. This is reflected in significantly higher lice infestations on wild sea trout in salmon farming zones compared to farm free areas in Ireland and Norway. Similarly, in Scotland the highest burdens found on sea trout occurred in the salmon farming zone of the west coast. Consequently, in Norway, western Ireland and western Scotland, lice infestations are regarded as a major factor in the decline of wild salmon and sea trout populations...."

The catastrophic impact of salmon farming on stocks of wild sea trout on the west coast of Scotland is now widely accepted. A recent report, in 2017, by Dr Andrew F. Walker MSc PhD on the Collapse of Loch Maree Sea Trout stated:

     "Nevertheless, it can be concluded that the introduction of salmon farming in Loch Ewe close to the River Ewe’s estuary played a prominent part in the changes in sea trout stock dynamics in the River Ewe system, leading to the collapse of the angling fishery in Loch Maree. The rapid change in sea trout stock structure there in the late 1980s was consistent with many other badly affected sea trout fisheries throughout the West Highlands and Islands following the development of local intensive coastal salmon farming."

There can be little doubt as to the extent and nature of the problem. While the Scottish Government, a strong supporter of the salmon farming industry, continued to turn a blind eye to the unfolding environmental catastrophe, it seemed clear to many of us that the sea lice problem associated with the salmon farms had been a major contributory factor in the decline of sea trout stocks on many west coast rivers and lochs. Salmon stocks face an additional threat from the many escaping farmed salmon entering our rivers, where they may interbreed with wild fish, weakening the genetics and future development of the wild salmon stock. It is to be hoped that stricter controls combined with improved production techniques and a growing environmental awareness on the part of salmon farmers, fishery owners and politicians might one day halt, and perhaps even reverse, this sad decline and that the sea trout, and the fishermen, might one day return to the West Highlands.

In the meantime, there had been a general, and perhaps more baffling, decline in sea trout stocks also in areas where no salmon farms existed, for example in the rivers flowing into the Moray Firth and Solway Firth. In the summer of 1989, the Solway rivers appeared to suffer a particularly dramatic collapse in sea trout runs. Indeed, the total Scottish sea trout rod catch shows a similar calamitous fall at around the same time, the 1987 total rod catch of 55,112 sea trout falling to 48,386 in 1988, 43,285 in 1989 and 28,060 in 1990, a fall of almost 50% in that three year period. The downward trend in Scottish sea trout rod catches has continued fairly steadily ever since, to a depressingly low total of 16,899 in 2019. Why, we might ask, are our sea trout stocks now in such general decline? It has become clear that, despite their amazing resilience, our sea trout face a multitude of threats to their very survival, in both their marine and freshwater habitats.

I have noted the grave problem of sea lice infestation associated with the growth of salmon farming in the north west of Scotland and in the west of Ireland, undoubtedly a major factor in the declining fortunes of our sea trout. We may cite further problems in the marine environment. Gradually rising sea temperatures, associated with climate change, are thought to affect the availability and location of many of the prey species on which salmon, sea trout and other fish species depend. Over-fishing of salmon at sea increased on the discovery of the main salmon feeding grounds in the North Atlantic, while over-fishing of particularly important prey species such as sandeels around our coasts has similarly reduced food availability, not only for fish but also for many of our seabirds.

The uncontrolled growth in populations of both grey and common seals around our coastline over the past few decades has posed a severe predatory threat, while a similar increase in the numbers of protected species of avian predators, in particular mergansers, goosanders and cormorants, poses an equally serious threat to young salmon and sea trout in the river environment. Sea trout continue to be netted around our coasts, albeit at a reduced number of locations, now concentrated along the north east coast of England.

Afforestation in the upper catchments of our rivers has led to problems of both high levels of acidification and increased run-off of rainwater, resulting in excessive erosion in some parts of the river and excessive deposition in others, both of which may have an adverse impact on sea trout and salmon spawning streams. Such large and sudden variations in river flows are likely to be exacerbated by climatic change which may alter the flow regimes of rivers, resulting, for instance, in extended drought in summer but milder, wetter winters causing big winter floods.

While many historic barriers to sea trout and salmon migration, such as dams and weirs dating from early industrial times, have been gradually removed or modified, others are now appearing in the form of mini hydro-electric schemes, tidal barriers etc. which hinder both the upward migration of salmon and sea trout and the downward migration of smolts in the springtime.

Finally, while much of the pollution of our rivers from industrial sources has been reduced dramatically in recent decades, pollution from other sources has increased. Agricultural insecticides, pesticides and fertilisers, including slurry, have found their way, in ever higher concentrations, into our rivers, with their seriously adverse impact on both fish and invertebrate life. Despite advances in sewage treatment, the growth in the size of human settlements on our river banks has been associated with a general increase in river pollution in recent times, while the increased demand for water, for both human and agricultural use, has led to increasing water abstraction and lower river flows throughout the increasingly hot and dry summer months.

I have focussed on sea trout, as they are perhaps more severely impacted by environmental problems around our coasts. But many of the problems facing sea trout also have a severely detrimental impact on stocks of salmon returning to out rivers. Given the political will, however, many of the above problems could be addressed, affording a degree of protection to increasingly fragile stocks of Scottish salmon and sea trout, our most valuable game fish.

See also

Trout and Salmon Fishing in Scotland

 

 
 

 

 

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