The plea has come from the Tay District Salmon Fisheries Board on the opening day of the 2010 angling season.
Similar practices are in force in other Scottish rivers.The board has said that no salmon should be killed at all before June and afterwards anglers must limit themselves to one male salmon a day. The policy brings the restrictions on the Tay closer to those already in place on the River Dee. On the Dee most of the salmon are returned to the water to allow them to continue upstream to spawn.
The problem is that 30 years ago more than a third of all salmon smolts would survice to maturity. Today there is real concern over dwindling fish stocks.Until now anglers have been asked to follow a voluntary code to release the first salmon they catch each day and to only retain one fish in two. The Tay District Salmon Fisheries Board believes radical conservation measures are required to let more salmon to return to the river.
Should people be 'stimulated' to eat white fish alternatives to cod?
