Anglers’ delight at fishing U-turn
River Earn rule change set to boost local clubs
Strathearn anglers were celebrating this week after the River Earn was reclassified allowing fishermen to keep the salmon they catch.
It will return to being a Category 2 river from next April having this year been changed to a Category 3 river by the Scottish Government, which meant anglers had to return any fish caught - regardless of size and condition.
The move led to a 20% drop in membership numbers at Crieff Angling Club, with other local clubs also facing problems.
Anglers had been instrumental in fighting the move claiming the methodology used for the Category 3 classification was flawed while local Conservative MSPs called for a review into its status.
Mid Scotland and Fife Tory MSP Liz Smith was among those campaigning against the original classification and is delighted her work and that of local anglers has paid off.
She said: “This is fantastic news for local anglers who fish the Earn and the many tourists who travel from all over to cast their lines on the river.
“Anglers have always maintained that the methodology for classifying the river was flawed and a rethink was needed.
“My Conservative colleagues in parliament fought this at every stage and I am delighted the Scottish Government have finally seen sense and returned the Earn to a more reasonable status.
“Fishing is hugely important for the local economy with anglers travelling from all over to use the river, and imposing a complete catch and release policy would have had hugely negative consequences for businesses in and around the Earn.”
Crieff Angling Club had feared its future and that of other clubs on the Earn could be in jeopardy because of the rule change.
The legislation, a result of the Wild Fisheries Review consultation document, came into effect on April 1 this year and made it illegal to kill any wild salmon caught on the Earn.
Alan Brock, president of Crieff Angling Club, said he hoped the U-turn would mean membership numbers will start to rise again.
He said: “We’re very pleased that the River will be going back to Category 2 classification.
“This gives anglers the choice of whether they want to catch and release the fish or whether they need one for the dinner table.
“We’ve lost about 20% of our members this year because of this change which means our takings are down and that puts a lot of pressure on us.
“Hopefully people will come back to the club now that this change is going to take place.”
Those in opposition to the move had argued that salmon conservation measures need to be based on sound science and claimed the figures used to calculate the River Earn limits were flawed.
Ms Smith, who lives locally, said: “They were not based on correct or current local scientific data and use rod- catch return figures on ‘spate’ rivers – figures which simply do not give an accurate picture of the health or otherwise of salmon stocks.”