National Electrofishing Programme for Scotland (NEPS) 2021: analysis

Conclusion

NEPS provides large scale, strategically designed, quantitative data on the distribution, abundance and status of freshwater fish in Scotland. These data can be combined or post-stratified to provide assessments across a wide range of spatial scales. With careful thought, scientific development and partnership working across Government, its agencies, the wild fisheries sector and other stakeholders, NEPS could potentially contribute to meeting the varying reporting needs of current and future legislation (e.g. Habitats Directive, Water Framework Directive, Conservation Regulations) and policy imperatives (e.g. Blue Economy Vision for Scotland, Wild Salmon Strategy). When combined with information on the distribution of pressures including water quality, genetic introgression (through the associated National Introgression Programme for Scotland: NIPS) and climate change (through links to the Scotland River Temperature Monitoring Network) NEPS provides the evidence base necessary to plan conservation, restoration and management of Atlantic salmon and other freshwater fish species including brown trout and European eel.