FISHING has been suspended on one of Scotland’s top salmon rivers – because the fish are stressed.
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A combination of a lack of rain and low tides has forced Garynahine Estate in the Western Isles to ban anglers until further notice because dozens of fish are trapped in the sea pool on the famed salmon river.
They are now thought to be in a state of severe agitation because, being stuck in salt water, they are suffering from sea lice which would normally drop off soon after they reached the river and fresh water.
Donnie Whiteford, the estate’s gamekeeper, confirmed that after discussions with estate owner Dougie McGilvray, boss of Inverness crane firm Weldex, there was now a ban in place till further notice.
“At this time of year we would normally have four to six rods on the river but it would not be right to fish now. Because of low tides, the fish cannot go back to sea and because of the drought as we have had no significant rain for more than three months, they cannot go upriver either,” he said.
“Fishing was permitted in the sea pool until Tuesday but then the tide stopped coming in. Everything is on hold until next week when the tides will rise again.”
The salmon are now stuck with nowhere to go. They are stressed not only because of the sea lice attached to them but because they cannot escape into flowing water when they see movement on the bank or when a line comes over and a fly lands in the water close to them. Mr Whiteford explained that there is also little oxygen in the water because it is not flowing which also must be a great cause of stress for the stranded salmon.
The water crisis is a blow for the estate as fishing at Garynahine has been improving steadily during the last 15 years. It now has a five-year average well above 100, with most of the fish caught from late-July onwards.
Passing drivers and onlookers have marvelled at the sight of salmon jumping in the pool in the last few days thinking they were leaping in the summer sunshine. Few realise that the salmon are undoubtedly jumping in their sheer frustration and agony at being stuck in the pool with lice and in a pool of increasingly stale sea water.
Despite apparent dark rainclouds over the Isle of Lewis on Friday, there was only the occasional light shower which had no effect on the island’s many rivers.
Now Donnie Whiteford hopes that the weather will change before the bigger parties of guests arrive which have paid for fishing from August onwards.
“So far, we have only had to cancel a few day ticket bookings but we do not have big parties here until August. If there is no rain until then, we will have a lot of unhappy guests.”
At neighbouring Grimersta Estate, manager Simon Scott said they were lucky as their sea pool is slow to fill and fish can still get in and back out to sea. His salmon are also getting to the lochs as well but we have to be very careful how we fish so we don’t stress them.
“Thankfully, we don’t have a welfare issue. If this drought continues there is little we can do – moving stocks is not really feasible unless we get some trapped in a small pool. This is a bit of an unusual situation.”
A Scottish Water spokesman denied suggestions locally that were were only a few days’ water supplies left in the Stornoway area. However, they have repeated their advice to islanders not to use water wastefully or to fill baths or tubs. He said: “Stockpiling will only make the situation worse for everyone.”
Rain is forecast in the islands for the weekend but it is not expected to be heavy enough to make a difference to river conditions.
Tch Tch. No significant rain for 3 months. Time we found someone to blame for this situation
Most decent anglers are surprised that this didn’t happen much sooner! Can’t understand why the fish aren’t being netted and transported up the system into fresh water. It was done in Wales some years ago (under the direction of the EA I believe) and it worked a treat!