King of fish flood the River Ayr with silver
Twenty- fold leap as the number of salmon increases
Ayrshire’s mightiest river – and most polluted – could be going through remarkable change.
The guardians of the River Ayr have recorded TWENTY times the number of fish in some pools.
The 40- mile river has been plagued by pollution and industry such as open cast coal, but it is hoped the water quality is on the turn.
The Ayrshire Rivers Trust has just completed an electro- fishing survey at key spots along the waterway.
And manager Stuart Brabbs revealed: “These results are encouraging for the River Ayr.
“It is important to get this in context as the Ayr has had very poor returns in fish surveys for many years.
“But to see fish in these numbers in the Ayr is incredibly good.”
ART is a charity improving Ayrshire big six rivers – Irvine, Garnock, Stinchar, Girvan, Doon and Ayr – and the tributaries.
At the well- known stepping stones stretch close to the A77 the best results previously had been eight young fish.
Last year there were three - last month there were 50 fry found there.
Experts are hoping it’s a trend for the future rather than a freak year.
About 14 sites the length of the river – sourced by Glenbuck Loch – are always surveyed and ALL performed better. The Ayr was once among the 14 most polluted rivers in Scotland.
At worst the results this year point to a catch and release policy, good weather and a good spawning.
At best it is the continued habitat work by ART with riparian owners and salmon boards that is really as well as SEPA involvement making long term impact.
The rivers trust helps protect banking, plants trees and gets rid of barriers which make it harder for fish to get upriver.
Government rules demanding catch and release on salmon in the Ayr were brought in last year.
Auchincruive- based Stuart added: “I’ve surveyed the Ayr for 14 years and am almost certain the results have never been better.
“The Stepping Stones site is normally a huge disappointment and typically produces just two or three salmon, an occasional grayling, loads of stone loach and eels despite the habitat being ideal for salmon spawning and juveniles.
“Last week we captured over 50 salmon and that’s a first. There were 12 small grayling too which is encouraging and the largest fish captured was a stunning grayling of 230mm. It’s a good spawning year, but it is important to point out it may be back down next year.”
Anglers are also hoping a trend has been set and results due in from the River Doon are also said to be encouraging. At Oswald Bridge last year there were NO salmon.
This year there were 18 king of fish counted.
At Tarholm there were 100 salmon fry caught and another 20 at Stair and another 54 at Stairaird.
Stuart also noted: “We again counted the stone loach throughout this survey and they appear to far outweigh salmon and trout in the river. They compete for food and space and are pollution tolerant so have thrived.”
Results are due in soon for the Girvan and Stinchar.