Fish Handling and Best Practice
John Macaskill is the Head Ghillie on the Upper Fairburn and Coul beats on the River Conon in the North of Scotland which is currently in the grips of an extremely dry summer, rivers are suffering from low water and high water temperatures. It has never been more important to handle Atlantic Salmon in the correct way to give fish the greatest chance of survival. John takes us through some critical points of best practice when it comes to fish handling and helping to care for our wild Atlantic salmon.
A 16lb summer salmon released having not been touched at all which has been lifted above the water for a couple of seconds for the photo.
A 9lb spring salmon photographed and released without being touched once again.
As a Ghillie, one of the most frustrating things I see is the mishandling of fish. I am sure many Ghillies will be in agreement. When we are now dealing with such a small return rate from egg to returning adult, it is incredible to think that any of our fish are making it back to their home rivers to spawn. This final percentage of Salmon that do make it back are our brood stock for generations to come and have to be treated with the care and respect they deserve.
We are also now gathering more evidence and learning more about repeat spawners. These are incredible fish and for these fish to increase in numbers we need to play our part. This including the respect and handling for Kelts. If we do not treat our kelts with the same respect as our fresh fish we will never see a repeat spawner.
To this day we still see the “experienced angler” with the classic - picking the salmon up by the tail, dragging fish up the gravel bank and the 'picture perfect' pose of the fish out of the water, holding it towards the camera. It might make for for the perfect social media post, however the angler is very likely blissfully unaware that this could have lasting damage on the fish.
An example of a fish being photographed without being touched at all. This was an 11b spring fish which will now continue its journey unscathed.
Some of our early rivers are catching their first fish in January or February and these early Spring fish are in freshwater for up to ten or eleven months before spawning. If these fish are damaged by mishandling in the early parts of the year, they stand little chance of making it until spawning time.
One of the main conditions which are fatal to salmon and can start with mishandling is a condition called Saprolegnia. Saprolegnia is a fungal-like organism that infects freshwater fish and their eggs. Infections appear as grey, brown or white fur-like growths on the skin, fins and gills of fish. Saprolegnia grows as a system (known as a mycelium) of branching stems (individually known as hypha). The 'fungus' often infects damaged skin and open wounds, and is therefore typically considered as a secondary infection. The 'fungi' grows to cover the damaged area and then spreads to the surrounding healthy tissue. Initially this results in destruction of the surface tissues, followed by 'fungal' penetration into the muscle layers and blood vessels. If the infection progresses, the regulation of water and mineral salts in the fish’s blood (i.e. osmoregulation) can become impaired and this can eventually lead to death. Through experience I have found this can be particularly bad from the month of May onwards, especially if you have a sustained period of low water and an increase in water temperature.
Fish conservation should be in the forefront of our thoughts before we even start fishing. Knotless nets are a legal requirement and the new rubber mesh nets are extremely fish friendly and also help prevent splitting fins. Before you start fishing a pool you can think ahead and look for the most fish friendly area to land a fish and place your net assembled here to be ready. Ideally have your Ghillie or fishing companions phone number on last dialled so you can phone easily for assistance when playing your fish. When that magical moment happens and you hook your fish it is important not to overplay your fish. It is better to play your fish harder and get them into the net quickly so they do not exhaust themselves. Then, if handled correctly, recover quicker.
A picture of a summer Grilse being released by lowering the rim of the net after not being handled at all.
The next part is the most crucial of all, although I am mindful that all situations are different and a set rule can not be carried out at all times. Ideally once your fish is in the net you shouldn’t need to touch your fish at all. Carefully release the hook with forceps. You must keep the fish in the water at all times. Keep them wet! If you want a photo you can hold the net to position the fish at the best angle for your photo. Do not keep the head out of the water for more than ten seconds. You can then keep the fish in the net until it recovers. Once recovered lower the rim of the net and let the fish swim away without being touched at all.
In some cases when you don’t have a net choose a suitable area i.e grassy bank or fine gravel to bring your fish on to. Again, keep the fish wet and in the water raising the head slightly to allow forceps to remove the hook. Allow the fish to recover then turn away on its own accord. The less we handle our fish the higher percentage of survival rate we will have.
Collectively we all need to do our bit to help conserve our Atlantic Salmon stocks. If you can take something from this article, my hope is that if you see someone on the river mishandling a fish, let them know the correct procedure. Let’s try and educate each other as much as we can.
Let’s make photos of fish being held by the tail, fish positioned on gravel beside a rod or the fish being held up out of the water for too long a thing of the past!
Keep your fish wet, in the water and try not to handle them at all!
The next time you are all going for that perfect social media post, keep this at the forefront of your mind!
We might not all be able to have a direct effect on all issues surrounding Atlantic Salmon conservation so let’s make sure we can have a positive effect on the issues that each and every angler can have a positive impact on.
As an Alliance of five organisations, we will build on the existing work of our partners and maximise our impact by taking a coordinated approach and vital action in order to halt and reverse the decline of wild Atlantic salmon.
The goal of the Missing Salmon Alliance is to build an evidence-base to influence national and international decision-makers to regulate activities that adversely impact wild Atlantic salmon.
The Missing Salmon Alliance
The MSA is comprised of the following members:
Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust, Atlantic Salmon Trust, the Angling Trust with Fish Legal, The Rivers Trust and Fisheries Management Scotland.
https://www.missingsalmonalliance.org