Publication - FOI/EIR release

Documentation on the Kirkcudbrightshire Dee, Fisheries Management Plan by Marine Scotland: EIR release

Published: 30 August 2024
Directorate: Marine Directorate
Topic: Marine and fisheries, Public sector
FOI reference: EIR/202400407146
Date received: 30 March 2024
Date responded: 23 April 2024

Information request and response under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004.

Information requested

1) Reports or documentation relating to acid monitoring on the Kirkcudbrightshire Dee (Solway) catchment from the 1960s onwards. This would include the Loch Dee Acid Monitoring Project (1970s-1990s). I would like reports on studies that were done on the fish populations or pH in this part of the catchment that would include the following watercourses: Blackwater of Dee, Loch Dungeon, Cooran Lane, Polmaddy Burn, Polharrow Burn, Loch Dee, Loch Grannoch, Loch Skerrow, Loch Stroan.

2) I would also like access to the River Dee (Kirkcudbrightshire) Fisheries Management Plan that was funded by Marine Scotland around 2008-2010. Also access to the documentation relating to the new fisheries management plan which is due to be released this year.

3) I would like access to any reports relating to the migration of Atlantic salmon through the various dams on the Galloway Hydro Electric Scheme, which is situated on the Kirkcudbrightshire Dee. Any reports from 1935 to present day. Many historical reports (1930-1950s) would likely be under the Fisheries Board for Scotland.

4) I would also like access to reports relating to the status of the salmon populations in Kirkcudbrightshire Dee, historically to the present day.

5) I would like access to reports detailing the distribution of American Signal Crayfish within the Kirkcudbrightshire Dee Catchment. Any reports from 1996 to present please.

Response

Due to the historically wide reaching scope of the request, clarification was sought from you by my colleague on 5 April 2024:

Please note that the scope and date range which your request covers is very broad, and historic documents can be particularly difficult for us to identify and locate as they often lie in archives sitting out with our current records management systems. There is a possibility that the resources required to complete this task will be so extensive as to require us to reject your request as manifestly unreasonable under Regulation 10(4)(b). If you are content for us to respond to the more recent aspects of your request which we hold electronically, we can proceed on that basis and also provide advice and assistance to where information may be held by other public authorities or within publicly accessible resources.

You responded to us on 8 April 2024, thank you, to say:

As discussed in the letter, I would like you to proceed with the more recent aspects of my request. If you could also let me know where I can access the historical reports, that would be gratefully appreciated.

As the information you have requested is ‘environmental information’ for the purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), we are required to deal with your request under those Regulations. We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA. This exemption is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. This is essentially a technical point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request.

Response to your request

As you refer to “Marine Scotland” in your request, I would like to clarify that Marine Scotland is now known as “the Marine Directorate” to align with the naming conventions of the other Scottish Government Directorates.

I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested. Paper copies of three scientific papers in scope of your request are held in our Faskally office. We have scanned these and provided them to you as PDF items 1 to 3:

Item 1 - Acidification – paper by B.R.S. Morrison - includes “setting up of the Loch Dee Project”.
Item 2 - Acidification in Scotland Symposium Proceedings – 8 November 1988 – Page 82 “Freshwater Life in Acid Streams and Lochs” by B Morrison.
Item 3 - Proceedings of the Loch Dee Symposium – Acidification, forestry and fisheries management in upland Gallow – June 1993 – Page 107 - “The Trout (Salmo trutta L.) and Invertebrate Populations of Loch Dee and its inflowing streams” by B.R.S. Morrison and P. Collen.

Some of the information you have requested is available from the websites listed below. Under regulation 6(1)(b) of the EIRs, we do not have to give you information which is already publicly available and easily accessible to you in another form or format.

Loch Grannoch was part of UK Acid Water Monitoring Network (later Upland Water Monitoring Network). A large number of reports from this network are available online from CEH Resources| UKCEH UWMN. The main findings were reported in 2014 in terms of water chemistry Trends in the hydrochemistry of acid-sensitive surface waters in the UK 1988–2008 - ScienceDirect and fish populations https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2012.02.029.
See also Long-term trends in pH, aluminium and dissolved organic carbon in Scottish fresh waters; implications for brown trout (Salmo trutta) survival - ScienceDirect.
A paper specifically addressing liming within the Loch Dee catchment is available here: Changes in pH and calcium after selective liming in the catchment of Loch Dee, a sensitive and rapid‐ turnover loch in south‐west Scotland - TERVET - 1988 - Aquaculture Research - Wiley Online Library. See also this earlier paper

The Loch Dee Project: a Study of the Ecological Effects of Acid Precipitation and Forest Management on an Upland Catchments in Southwest Scotland. 1. Preliminary Investigations - Burns - 1984 - Aquaculture Research - Wiley Online Library and this later one The impact of liming on the hydrochemistry of a recently Acidified Lake (Loch Dee, SW Scotland) - ScienceDirect.

Dargall Lane is a sub-catchment of Loch Dee and has contributed to a very large number of studies as part of UKUWMN Dargall Lane | UKCEH UWMN – see bibliography. Likewise for Grannoch outflow Loch Grannoch | UKCEH UWMN.
A paper describing trends in fish populations and chemistry across Galloway (including Grannoch) is available here: .Long-term changes in fish populations of acid streams and lochs in galloway South West Scotland | Water, Air, & Soil Pollution (springer.com)

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested. Therefore we are refusing your request under the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs. The reasons why that exception applies are explained below. Under the terms of the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs (information not held), the Scottish Government is not required to provide information which it does not have. The Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested because after searching our records, we can confirm that we have not retained copies of the historic River Dee (Kirkcudbrightshire) Fisheries Management Plan that was funded by Marine Scotland around 2008-2010.

This exception is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception. While we recognise that there may be some public interest in information about historic River Dee (Kirkcudbrightshire) Fisheries Management Plans, clearly we cannot provide information which we do not hold.

The latest fisheries management plan for the Kirkcudbrightshire Dee is available here: Dee (Kirkcudbright) Fisheries Management Plan (arcgis.com). Under regulation 6(1)(b) of the EIRs, we do not have to give you information which is already publicly available and easily accessible to you in another form or format.

3) I would like access to any reports relating to the migration of Atlantic salmon through the various dams on the Galloway Hydro Electric Scheme, which is situated on the Kirkcudbrightshire Dee. Any reports from 1935 to present day. Many historical reports (1930- 1950s) would likely be under the Fisheries Board for Scotland.

I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested. See PDF item 4.

Item 5 is a 2010 report available on the Marine Data Exchange website, along with a more recent report for 2011 & 2012: 2010 - Present, Galloway Fisheries Trust, Robin Rigg Offshore Wind Farm, Post Construction survey of Migratory Fish | Marine Data Exchange. Under regulation 6(1)(b) of the EIRs, we do not have to give you information which is already publicly available and easily accessible to you in another form or format.

Marine Directorate colleagues were involved historically at Tongland and I see that a second historic report from 2012 has been released to you already under our 8 November 2023 response to your previous related EIR request handled under case reference number 202300380867: Armstrong, J.D.,R.M. Armstrong, J.L. Graham, S.J. Middlemas, J.C.H. Ribbens, P. Rycroft and D.C. Stewart. (2012). Movements of Returning Atlantic Salmon Through Tongland Fish Pass. Marine Scotland Science Report 05/12:17pp.

For your information, our response, including a copy of the aforementioned report has now been published on the SG website here: Annual Fisheries Committee Reports: EIR release - gov.scot (www.gov.scot). This item was released as file 5 under our previous request.

You may also wish to contact the Galloway Fisheries Trust directly who may be able to help you: Welcome to Galloway Fisheries Trust.

Additional information provided out with the EIRs

Under regulation 9 of the EIRs (our duty to provide advice and assistance) we would like to advise you that a more detailed analysis of the Robin Rigg salmon data was carried out in later years by Joe Thorley, under contract from the then Marine Scotland Science (MSS) division (now known as the Science, Evidence, Data & Digital (SEDD) portfolio. You will find a copy at the following weblink: THE POTENTIAL INFLUENCE OF ROBIN RIGG WIND FARM ON THE ABUNDANCE OF ADULT AND JUVENILE ATLANTIC SALMON (river-nith.com).

In addition, if you perform a google search you may find information about other historical studies and papers. One that may be of interest can be found at the following weblink: Modifications to a Fish Pass at Tongland Dam (iahr.org).

4) I would also like access to reports relating to the status of the salmon populations in Kirkcudbrightshire Dee, historically to the present day.

Some of the information you have requested (Item 8 to 11) is available from the following weblinks:

Please see the published Official Statistics on salmon catches, which include information on catches from the Kirkcudbrightshire Dee (1952-2022): Marine publications: information on Scottish salmon and sea trout statistics - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
Please see the supporting documents relating to the (now closed) consultation on the 2024 season river gradings, which include information on the salmon population of the Kirkcudbrightshire Dee: Overview - Salmon fishing: proposed river gradings for 2024 season - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
The status of adult salmon populations on the Kirkcudbrightshire Dee is assessed under the Conservation Regulations (). The river gradings since 2018 can be obtained from an https://www.gov.scot/policies/salmon-and-recreational- fisheries/conservation/online application for each river here: https://scotland.shinyapps.io/sg-salmon-conservation/
The Kirkcudbrightshire Dee is sampled as part of NEPS which assesses the status of juvenile salmon populations National Electrofishing Programme for Scotland - gov.scot (www.gov.scot). Reports can be accessed from this site and data can be accessed here: scotland.shinyapps.io/sg-NEPS-2018-2021/.

Under regulation 6(1)(b) of the EIRs, we do not have to give you information which is already publicly available and easily accessible to you in another form or format.

There are also links provided in our response to your question 1) above to additional papers that may contain some relevant information.

Item 3 enclosed as part of this response (under Q1) is also relevant to this question - Proceedings of the Loch Dee Symposium – Acidification, forestry and fisheries management in upland Gallow – June 1993 – Page 107 - “The Trout (Salmo trutta L.) and Invertebrate Populations of Loch Dee and its inflowing streams” by B.R.S. Morrison and P. Collen.

5) I would like access to reports detailing the distribution of American Signal Crayfish within the Kirkcudbrightshire Dee Catchment. Any reports from 1996 to present please.

Some of the information you have requested (Item 6) is available from the following weblink: KTR_EIAR_Chapter_10_Ecology_Appendix_10.5_Fish_Survey.pdf (spenergynetworks.co.uk)

Under regulation 6(1)(b) of the EIRs, we do not have to give you information which is already publicly available and easily accessible to you in another form or format.

I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested. Please find enclosed item 7 provided as a PDF document.

Additional information provided out with the EIRs

Under regulation 9 of the EIRs (our duty to provide advice and assistance) we would like to advise you that The National Biodiversity Network contains information on sightings. See the following link: https://nbn.org.uk/the-national-biodiversity-network/archive-information/nbn-gateway/

If you search for Signal crayfish there is an interactive map of recorded sightings you can click on. There are a few sightings recorded for the Kirkcudbrightshire Dee. As American Signal Crayfish are a freshwater species there may be additional reports available that are held by Scotland’s Environment Protection Agency (SEPA). You may wish to contact SEPA directly who may be able to help you. You can find out how to do so at the following weblink:
Access to information | Beta | SEPA | Scottish Environment Protection Agency

Galloway Fisheries Trust may also hold information and the following report can be obtained from their website: INSTRUCTIONS FOR AUTHORS OF SNH COMMISSIONED RESEARCH REPORTS (nathonjones.com)

Also, if you perform a google search you may find information about other historical studies and papers as well. One that may be of interest can be found at the following weblink: Strategy for the containment and possible erradication of the American Crayfish in the River Dee , Dumfries (2004) (nonnativespecies.org).

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.