See below from the Spey Board and the trouble they take to inform everyone whta's going and and being some on their behalf.

Be pretty useful if we had something similar here rather than the secrecy and fait accompli we get presented with here if we are lucky.   Surely if this sort of information was given to everyone so they can see just what's going then there just might be a better response and a spirit of support from many anglers and indeed some owners.  Unfortunately  I won't be holding by breath though that's for sure which is a great pity.

Dear Proprietors and Ghillies,

 

The Spey Board met last Friday, the 20^th November 2020 and the following provides a summary of the Board’s discussions. Like the Board’s previous meetings in May and September, the current circumstances led this Board Meeting to be held by video conference, although this time we also welcomed three members of the public who attended for the Open Session of the meeting. The Board also welcomed Guy Macpherson-Grant to his first meeting, having appointed him in September to succeed Oliver Russell, who has retired from the Board.

 

The Board heard that it could now declare the catches for the 2020 season, which this year had resulted in 5,622 salmon & grilse being caught. This was just over 10% up on the 5,090 caught last year and considering that there had been almost no fishing for two months, and in many cases three months of a seven-and-a-half month season this year, it was felt that this was a very positive result for the river. Furthermore, the grilse catch this year, which had amounted to just over 2,200 fish and was more than had been anticipated, bodes well for the arrival of multi-sea-winter fish in 2021. Sea trout catches, by comparison, had been disappointing at just 987. This was approximately half of what we would normally expect, but the lack of visiting anglers in June and the first half of July (which historically have been the most prolific months for sea trout catches on the Spey) as a result of the COVID travel restrictions, was thought to be a significant contributor to this.

 

The Board also reviewed its Conservation Policy and heard that we had recorded the highest percentage so far of fish that had been released; 98% of all salmon & grilse (the same as last year) and 91% of all sea trout (up on the 86% last year) caught were released so that they could go on to spawn. The Board is grateful to all of its proprietors and particularly their ghillies for their continued support with this and their efforts to persuade so many anglers to return the fish they have caught. The Board concluded that its voluntary Conservation Policy was continuing to work very well and that it should remain unchanged for 2021.

 

The Board was pleased to hear an update on Spey Dam, in which we reported on progress since the Board’s last meeting in September. As you know, the Dam has been declared a barrier to fish passage by the regulator, SEPA, but the owners of the Dam (SIMEC, part of the Gupta Family Group (GFG) Alliance), have conducted a lighting survey within the fish pass to record lux levels and discovered that the middle of the fish pass was pitch-dark. Indeed, at a recent meeting of the Dam’s Technical Working Group our Senior Biologist, Brian Shaw, noted that it was darker within the Spey Dam fish pass than it was at midday in winter at the Arctic Circle. Brian is researching the appropriate lighting levels in order to advise SIMEC of what should be installed next year. SIMEC are also working on improvements to the notches within the fish pass compartments, so as to create a less turbulent water flow through them. Together with the addition of the appropriate artificial lighting, we have been joined by SEPA in requesting implementation at pace, so that these installations are completed ahead of the adult salmon run next September. There has also been extensive discussion of a smolt tracking project in the spring of next year, which would involve trapping and tagging/marking smolts in the upper river Spey and then monitoring the level of successful migration through the reservoir and out through the Dam’s fish pass. A decision on this is expected soon and we will report upon the outcome next time.

 

On Stocking, it was reported that the Board’s staff and a team of volunteers, led by our Hatchery Manager Jimmy Woods, had successfully caught-up all of the broodstock fish required for our 2021 stocking programme. The catch-up was completed on the 5^th November and the last of the fish were stripped of their eggs on Monday the 23^rd November. Jimmy will now oversee the careful nurturing of their progeny until they are planted-out, either as eyed ova, or as unfed fry, in the spring of next year.

 

The Board received an update on our Habitat Enhancement & River Restoration Projects which our Operations Manager, Duncan Ferguson, is engaged with implementing alongside our Project Officer, Penny Lawson, from the Spey Catchment Initiative (SCI). You are already aware that in September the SCI won the 2020 UK River’s Prize in the River Reach category for the Allt Lorgy project it had begun in 2012. Since then, Penny has also secured a further £12,400 for additional fencing and riparian tree-planting along the lower River Truim, this time between Crubenmore and Newtonmore, as a follow-on from the stretch between Crubenmore and Cuaich that was fenced-off late last year. The additional fencing will begin next month and all of the tree planting, some of which had to be postponed due to the COVID lock-down, will follow next spring. The Board has also started looking at proposals to restore a flow down the River Cuaich, a tributary of the River Truim just north of Dalwhinnie, as mitigation for the dualling of the A9. This may not happen until 2023 or perhaps 2024, but we will be developing our proposals in the interim and liaising with SSE, who impound the Cuaich and its tributaries and divert the water from these into the Tay system to generate hydro-electricity.

 

A short film was shown to Board Members to illustrate the work being undertaken as part of the River Restoration Project on the River Calder above Newtonmore. I reported in my last update that the Calder has been under-performing as a spawning juvenile fish river for many years. Last year we secured £20,000 from SEPA to install large wood structures within the river, to slow its flow and enhance juvenile fish habitat and earlier this year, the SCI was awarded a grant of £192,000 to install fences and undertake significant riparian tree planting from next year. It is the most significant river restoration project the SCI has been involved with to date, with the potential for landscape-scale improvements and real climate change adaptation in this relatively un-wooded glen. For the first time, too, it has enabled us to tackle a project at catchment-scale, rather than just part of a river reach as we have hitherto undertaken. The film, together with the film produced for the Allt Lorgy, can be found on our website and both are available from the following link: https://link.edgepilot.com/s/a5b4aa7c/g4L0iHRmmUWSJjbyVRD0Mg?u=https://www.speyfisheryboard.com/spey-fishery-board-publications/

 

During discussion of the Biologist’s Report, Brian Shaw highlighted that we would be engaged in the Atlantic Salmon Trust’s Moray Firth Tracking Project again next Spring, and were also hoping to be engaged by Marine Scotland Science to conduct a parallel smolt tracking project looking at the impact of predation on our smolts. There was also discussion of water quality monitoring and how we might enhance the Board’s knowledge of it. SEPA have offered to provide us with the results of their monitoring, but advised us that we should be specific if we were not to be overwhelmed with data. It was suggested that data that could show water quality in the past in comparison to what we had now would be an appropriate start and Brian will be looking at how we develop our approach to this issue in the future. Meanwhile, our Scientific Committee had met recently to consider the Spey Scientific Strategy and discussed how this could be  more closely-aligned with the Board’s strategy and objectives.

 

River Spey Anglers’ Association Chairman and Spey Board Co-optee, John Trodden, provided the Board with an excellent presentation on the Board’s educational work that he assists with, in the form of the “Salmon in the Classroom” Project. Three local primary schools are involved each year and as well as learning about the life cycle of the Atlantic salmon, the River Spey and the work of the Board, pupils also rear 200-300 salmon eggs from our Hatchery in Glenlivet in small incubators in the classroom. Having monitored the eggs and watched them hatch, the pupils are then accompanied to a nearby Burn to release them into the wild. John has been an integral and essential part of our team in delivering this project over several years and presented some proposals on how the Board might develop the programme further, including an introduction to angling, visits to the Board’s Hatchery and possibly some work experience with the Ghillies.

 

During the Closed Session of the Meeting, the Board reviewed the financial variance reports for the last financial year (which ended on 30^th September) and considered the budget for the next financial year. It also considered its communications and media strategy. It recognised that we need to get better at explaining what the Board does and why it does it, not just to our proprietors, ghillies and anglers, but to the wider public too.  More broadly, we would also like to promote the Speyside area and link the work we do on the river with the Speyside and wider business community, so that together we can boost the numbers of visitors to the area and strengthen the local economy. To that end, the Board proposes to recruit a Digital Marketing & Communications Executive on contract, initially for a period of eighteen months. It will not be funded by the proprietors and so will be at no cost to the Assessment, and we hope it will become self-financing to allow an extension. Advertisements will be placed shortly and we will keep you informed of progress with this exciting development.

 

The Board also set the dates for its meetings next year, which will take place on: 5^th February 2021; 21^st May 2021; 3^rd September 2021; and 19^th November 2021. We regret that we are unable to host our Annual Public Meeting this year due to the restrictions imposed by COVID-19, but we shall look forward to (hopefully) reconvening this next year.

 

I hope you find the above helpful. The Board will meet next on Friday the 5^th February 2021 at 09:30am, with the Annual General Meeting following at 2pm that afternoon. Whether we are able to meet in person will depend upon the COVID restrictions that may still be in place at that time, so we will provide further details in due course via the Board’s website . As always we would encourage you, if you are able, to come along to the Open Session of this meeting (either virtually or in person, depending on how it is convened), so that you can become better acquainted with the complexities of the Board’s work. We would certainly be delighted to see you.

 

With best wishes,

 

Roger

 

Roger Knight

Director

 

 

Spey Fishery Board

1 Nether Borlum Cottages

Knockando