Salmon Fishing Proposed River Gradings for 2024 Season: Island Communities Impact Assessment

Step Three – Consultation

Questions addressed:

• Who do you need to consult with?
• How will you carry out your consultation and in what timescales?
• What questions will you ask when considering how to address island realities?
• What information has already been gathered through consultations and what concerns have been raised previously by island communities?
• Is your consultation robust and meaningful and sufficient to comply with the Section 7 duty?

Yes, information has been gathered previously. This is the ninth year of the Conservation of Salmon (Scotland) Amendment Regulations which seeks to amend Schedule 2 of the Conservation of Salmon (Scotland) Regulations 2016. In effect, updating the areas where the retention of salmon is prohibited.

Key stakeholders who have previously engaged through the annual consultation include anglers predominantly, with district salmon fishery boards (DSFBs) and rivers/fisheries Trusts through Fisheries Management Scotland alongside other groups involved or interested in the conservation of salmon or wider river environment. Those who responded to the latest annual consultation on the proposed river gradings ranged from individuals to organisations including six DSFBs, the River Tweed Commission, five river or fisheries trusts, three angling clubs or associations, three organisations with national membership such as Angling Scotland and Fisheries Management Scotland and five other businesses.

The public consultation on Salmon fishing: proposed river gradings for 2024 season took place from 9 August to 8 September 2023. Notice was given of the opening of the consultation and a week later in three National newspapers, through our stakeholder contact lists and through Marine Directorate (formerly Marine Scotland) social media accounts. Through our engagement with Fisheries Management Scotland all district salmon fishery boards (DSFBs) and rivers/fisheries trusts were informed through their mailing and contact lists.

The questions asked in the consultation included many open text answers where respondents could provide as much or as little information as they wished. There were 26 rivers or river systems that were highlighted by respondents as of interest to them (out of the 173 that we assess), of these one was within an island area.

There were no separate consultation events for Island communities or local authorities. We included information that the consultation could be requested in another format if required, however we received no requests for this service. Island based stakeholders were included in the stakeholder contact list for the consultation and we received one response which related to a specific interest in island areas. This included areas within the Isle of Skye. Additionally, another six respondents indicated that they had an interest in rivers across all of Scotland, which would also include the islands.

We believe that the consultation has been robust, meaningful and sufficient to comply with the Section 7 duty.