In discussion with an old colleague from 'back in the day' I heard from him that Marine Scotland introduced a further revision to the rules on stocking Brown Trout in rivers for 2018. It was already the case that in an effort to protect local populations that fish being stocked (if not reared from local stock) must be triploids.
The 'new bit', which became effective on the first of January, is the conditional timing of when stockies can be introduced.
The new rule states that
"the introduction of adult brown trout into rivers and streams may only be carried out between 1st May and 31st December".This is apparently in an effort to mitigate the potential negative impacts of introducing stockies which
will be competition for juveniles of indigenous stock of trout and (perhaps more in the governments current focus) the potential for predation of juvenile Atlantic Salmon.
I note with interest the reference is clearly only for adult 'stockies', this intrigues me....presumably lots of hungry smaller fish are not considered a threat
I am also super intrigued that an exemption to the rule can be sought, but only on certain scientific or conservation grounds. Hmmmmm. Presumably there will be an evidential Marine Scotland sliding scale which is as transparent as the process used for determining Salmon River categorisation.....
Whilst I do think this is all a step in the right direction, I wonder what qualifies as indigenous local stock and why the concern is only for adult stockies.
H
