Highland MSP hits out at new salmon rules
A Highland MSP's hitting out at new fishing rules - which will see anglers banned from catching salmon and taking them home.
A Highland MSP's hitting out at new fishing rules - which will see anglers banned from catching salmon and taking them home.
The controversial legislation came before the RACCE Committee this morning (Wednesday). The legislation, which will come into effect on 1 April this year, has been widely criticised by angling associations and anglers throughout the country.
Rhoda Grant commented “I am sure no-one is against salmon conservation, but any measures that are introduced need to be based on correct figures and after a reasonable consultation process with those who will be affected. The timescale for the introduction of this legislation allows no time for angling clubs, fishing proprietors and fishing related businesses to adapt to them. The SNP Government legislation will introduce a complete ban on catching salmon outwith river estuaries and a 100% catch-and-release only policy for the majority of Scottish rivers, including a number of ‘spate’ rivers, which have been allocated arbitrary ‘conservation limits’.
Mrs Grant said “Concerns are widespread that the figures used to calculate these limits are badly flawed and are not based on correct or current local scientific data. To compound this, the Scottish Government gave only 10 weeks notice of the implementation of these regulations.
Mrs Grant continued “This is the difficulty of having a majority government where committees are unbalanced. Scottish Labour’s hope was that this matter could have been referred to the floor of the Parliament to allow more scrutiny of the legislation to take place, and to allow all members of the Parliament to vote on the matter. Sadly, this has not been allowed to happen as the SNP members have voted with their government, ignoring the views of a vast number of concerned constituents, and railroaded the legislation through.”