News Archive
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Anderson’s Pool Catrine
After rescuing fish from the middle pool yesterday, we were back this morning to remove any fish in Anderson’s Pool to enable the contractors to complete the concrete works as quickly as possible. Rob, Covanburn’s site agent called us once he had pumped the pool to a low level and we jumped into action. By…
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Fish rescue at Catrine Dam
One concern we had at Catrine was the lack of plans to rescue fish from the depleted work area. The requirement for this became obvious to most very quickly and this morning I approached the Contractors and Catrine Community Trust on the matter. After brief discussions, Covanburn’s site agent agreed to allow us to rescue…
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Bio-security and fisheries
In light of the disease outbreak that forced a local fishery to shut until the problem is rectified, we are keen to see all fisheries (river and still-waters) operating in Ayrshire improve bio security measures at their waters. As a simple precautionary measure, all fisheries should have a dipping tank in place for disinfecting nets…
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Scottish Government’s Review of Wild Fisheries
Following Alex Salmond’s commitment to review Wild Fisheries announced at the opening of the Tay Salmon fishing season in January this year, the Scottish Government today issued a press release detailing the scope and remit of the review and those that have been appointed to deliver it. Here’s a link to the press release issued
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Non Native Species in the River Ayr
in EnvironmentWe have received several reports recently of rainbow trout being caught on the River Ayr and Doon and I have received photos from reliable sources of these fish caught on both rivers. Whilst this situation is not good, these fish should be thinned out quickly by the numerous anglers that are out on both systems.
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Catrine Dam
in EnvironmentAfter years in the development and planning, work to stabilise Catrine Dam and improve the fish pass is now under way. I met with SEPA, CCT and the contractors this morning to discuss concerns I highlighted last week over the altered flow down the fish pass. We also discussed the overall project and timescale of
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Fish Eye View at Catrine
in FishingTo enable us to compare performance before and after the modifications at Catrine Dam, I filmed a Salmon’s eye view of the issues around the fish pass and Anderson’s. The video illustrates the turbulence and entrained air that make passage difficult. Anderson’s will be deepened below the fall soon and this should allow migrating species
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Ayr Broodstock
in FishingI had arranged to help sort out the broodstock at the Ayr hatchery today and sort out the pairings for the few fish we had collected. In all we stripped 5 hens today and covered them with 3 cocks. While this doesn’t seem many, we chose fish very carefully from areas where we expect the
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River Ayr Spate
in EnvironmentOnce again there has been a landslide in recent weeks above Catrine Dam. This is the second major slide within a year. The debris at the foot of the bank causes gravel and sediment to build up, shallowing the pool and deflecting the flow to the opposite bank and today I noticed that this too