The Atlantic Salmon Trust

The Scottish Government has published the salmon and sea trout catch statistics for 2011.

Total reported rod catch (retained and released) of salmon for 2011 is 87,915. It is the sixth highest rod catch on record, and is 98 per cent of the previous five-year average.

The proportion of the rod catch accounted for by catch and release continues to increase. In 2011, 91 per cent of rod caught spring salmon was released, as was 73 per cent of the annual rod catch.

Catch and effort for salmon net fisheries remain at historically low levels. Fishing effort in the fixed engine and net & coble fisheries was the fourth and fifth lowest, respectively, since records began in 1952. Reported catch was 5 per cent and 2 per cent of the maximum reported in the respective time series.

For Scotland as a whole, total reported rod catch of sea trout (retained and released) for 2011 is 23,324. Despite declining for much of the period since 1952, the catch in 2011 increased by 4 per cent compared to the previous five-year average.

The proportion of the total rod catch accounted for by catch and release has shown a general increase since records began in 1994 and accounted for 70% of the catch in 2011.

Catch and effort for sea trout net fisheries remain at historically low levels. Fishing effort in the fixed engine and net & coble fisheries was the fourth and fifth lowest, respectively, since records began in 1952. Reported catch was 3 per cent and 2 per cent of the maximum reported in the respective time series.

Further informaion is available here

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