Loch Lomond Catchment Management Plan Consultation Report 
- December 2001

Response of The Scottish Federation for Coarse Angling - February 2002

ISSUE 14 - Legal protection of fish stocks

MANAGEMENT OBJECTIVE

Increase the legal protection afforded to fish stocks.

A14.1 We are extremely pleased to note this proposal, and it has our full support. Current legislation offers no effective conservation protection to coarse fish species. As a result they are needlessly killed in many waters. We believe that legislation must be introduced to prevent the culling or eradication of any established species other than on sound scientific grounds. There is no reason why the law should differentiate between trout, salmon or coarse fish in this respect.

It must be recognised, however, that statutory controls may take several years to put in place, For the short term, we would suggest that a number of non-statutory measures could be implemented almost immediately to set this process in motion:-

• Actively discourage the killing of coarse fish captured accidentally by game anglers. A note should be printed on permits ordering game anglers to return any coarse fish caught. Ideally, fishery rules should also make it a banning offence to kill coarse fish. Any Protection Order in the catchment should make catch and release of coarse fish mandatory.

• The law permits any proprietor or occupier who has a right of freshwater fishing, with the agreement of all other proprietors on the water, to take freshwater fish other than trout (our italics) by means of nets or traps. We hope this iniquitous piece of legislation will be repealed. Meantime, all possible steps should be taken to discourage netting or trapping. Specifically, we call on SEPA to press Crown and public bodies who have riparian rights to withhold their permission if any request is made to net or trap coarse fish in the catchment.

• Coarse fish - primarily but not exclusively pike - are often killed in the course of (or under the pretext of) scientific study. Gill nets are often used for this, yet these kill all species indiscriminately and may harm the fishery by removing the larger predators and allow their juvenile brethren to proliferate. SEPA, SNH, and all reputable research organisations should draw up a protocol which demands that where fish have to be captured for research, the methods used should minimise fatalities and maximise the validity of the information collected. For example, any evaluation of dietary patterns of pike should be conducted with the use of proper multi-panel sampling nets or non-lethal trapping so that it gathers essential data on the availability of prey species and the comparative impact of other predators.

ISSUE 15 - Introduction of non-native fish species

ISSUE 16 - Conservation of lamprey, salmon, powan and other native fish populations

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ISSUE 12 - Management of angling activities

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