Sponsorship appeal for 'race to the sea'

by DOUGLAS SHEPHERD

Members of the public are being asked to sponsor the tagging of Tweed salmon smolts which will be fitted for acoustic tracking during this year's hazardous spring migration to the sea at Berwick.

As part of a new study to find out why so many juvenile fish are lost during their long distance journey from the upper Tweed those who donate to the £40,000 project by the Tweed Foundation will have access to regular updates on the progress of their smolt via the foundation's tracking blog.

And according to the organisation's website: "We will also be awarding a prize at the end of the smolt run for the fastest smolt to make it out of the estuary and into the sea, the start of their long migration to the feeding grounds.A single tag costs £275. Our suggested minimum donation is £25 for part sponsorship."

Small scale tracking studies on Tweed were carried out in 2010 and 2011 on Sea Trout smolts with 81% losses in the first year and 56% in the second.

In 2019 a pilot study was carried out using salmon smolts with a sample of 39 tagged fish tracked in the main river from Galafoot to Berwick. Only sixteen smolts made it to sea, representing a 59% loss.

A report on last year's project concludes: "The main finding was that of the 23 smolts that did not make it all the way to the estuary, 21 disappeared in the Middle River. With a larger, more representative, sample will the same pattern of losses be found, and can we more precisely locate where these losses are taking place?"

Using acoustic tracking technology, in Spring 2020 150 smolts will be tagged from the Gala Water tributary. The tags will become active on 1st April. Receiver listening stations along the river will then track their progress downstream, helping to identify where losses take place.

The Foundation says it expects to repeat the work in 2021, with the findings contributing to the tracking research being carried out on other rivers in Scotland.

The tracking will complement other related work including dietary analysis of Goosanders and Cormorants - fish eating birds blamed by many anglers for the smolt losses - regular bird counts and a pilot tracking study of Goosanders.

"It is important that fisheries managers understand all the factors that may impact on fish stocks", the Foundation explains. "Those that have the potential to prevent juvenile Salmon from surviving to the migration stage and getting safely out to sea are of major concern, because at that stage the fish are irreplaceable. The diet analysis study is welcomed and will help rivers to better understand the interaction between birds and fish, and will assist the Scottish Government in making informed decisions when balancing the requirements of the different protected species."

In a separate report published in March 2019 the Tweed Foundation pointed to "a very significant and worrying drop in the number of Salmon returning to Tweed over the last four seasons."

That report said: "This is of huge concern both for the conservation of the Atlantic Salmon and for the Borders rural economy, which relies heavily on visiting anglers for its income. This drop in returning Salmon is due to many factors – most of which are taking place out at sea. 

"What fisheries managers can do is to ensure that as many smolts as possible  – the ‘final product’ of the Salmon’s river phase – are able to successfully migrate down the river and out to sea. Through many years of careful monitoring and management in the river, the Tweed fisheries management bodies of River Tweed Commission and Tweed Foundation know that conditions in the Tweed have not altered and that our juvenile fish habitat is extremely good and very productive."

The Tweed had seen an increasing population of Cormorants over the last five years or so, with numbers highest during the autumn and winter months. This was taking its toll on the survival of young fish and was one of many factors contributing to the current decline in adult Salmon returning to the world famous river.  

"Scaring techniques are being employed to help move the Cormorants back out to sea, their ‘natural’ habitat, so that the fish have a better chance of survival in the river.

"During the spring, fish-eating birds impact on the smolt run but they also damage  juvenile fish stocks during the autumn and winter months – predating not only on Salmon, but on Tweed’s trout and grayling stocks as well, which are an integral part of the angling economy on the river."

Meanwhile this weekend Scottish Government agency Marine Scotland has published a notice inviting tenders for a £37,000 contract involving the tagging and tracking of fish eating birds in Scottish Rivers

An abstract from the tender specifications states: "The Scottish Ministers wish to deploy thirty GPS GSM tags on two Scottish rivers. The principle requirement of the work will be to assess the movement and behaviour of piscivorous birds in riverine environments during the period of salmon smolt migration (focussed around April and May) and to understand the consequences of management procedures such as bird scaring."

Deadline for the submission of tenders is January 29th.