Scottish salmon farmers have launched a new fund to help the country’s wild salmon through habitat protection, restocking programmes and protection from predators.
The wild fisheries fund opens for applications on February 1, 2023, and closes on March 31, 2023 and will prioritise applications which aim to protect and enhance wild salmonid populations and local angling opportunities.
Applications are welcomed from local angling clubs and associations; District Salmon Fishery Boards and Fishery Trusts; voluntary or community groups; charities; social enterprises; community interest companies; and not-for-profit organisations.
The wild fisheries fund replaces and builds on the work of the wild salmonid fund, which since 2021 has invested more than £190,000. It will be co-ordinated by fishery manager Jon Gibb, a fisheries trust manager based in Fort William, who has championed a constructive relationship between the farm-raised salmon sector and fisheries and angling groups.
He said that “both the farmed and wild salmon sectors have a common interest to thrive in our shared space and both rely on the rich heritage of the wild salmon and the angling that depends upon them”.
The new fund is part of a total five-year investment of £1.5 million from salmon farmers. To date, grants have been used to save and restore a historic dam in the Western Isles that assists wild salmon to progress to their spawning grounds, as well as restoration projects to reduce riverbank erosion and measures to provide tree canopy and in-stream cover for young salmon.