[Rob Brownfield]

I see the The River Don Facebook page has a report of a Fyke net being found on an ADAA section  and that it was removed by a fishery officer.

I shared that post on several sites, but I have received quite a bit of "feedback" about it.

As pointed out, it is not a Fyke net, but a crayfish trap and clearly baited for crays. It was also pointed out that it is not illegal to fish for crays in Scotland.

I had a look through the Don protection order and it does indeed seem that there is no legislation to stop someone using such a trap.

I believe that the Loch Ken area has a free permit available for crays, and that you must submit a catch return, but that's about it.

I also found some suggestions that there are red signal crays in the Don

Any thoughts on the matter?

[Hamish Young]

The thing here is still permissions, you need permission to set the traps.

Fyke net (or not), Crayfish trap (or not) the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 2003 states (Part 1, Methods of fishing, Section 2):
"In any inland waters an owner or occupier may fish for or take freshwater fish, other than trout, by net or trap."

So it is legal, but only if the owner or occupier does it or gives written permission to do so and only if the target species are other than Trout (and obviously Salmon...).

My tuppence.

[James Laraway]

I had no idea that there were crayfish in the Don !

I had heard that someone had them in a pond near the Feugh , that the Feugh then flooded leading to the inevitable......  and presumably that means that  they will be in the dee also due to that stupid person

I was down fishing a loch that is connected to loch ken by a wee river - and on the banks of the loch guess what - crayfish claws....once they are in a system that seems to be it . No amount of trapping will ever remove them sadly

I think i read they are also in a tributary of the Nairn....

[Rob Brownfield]

So it is legal, but only if the owner or occupier does it or gives written permission to do so and only if the target species are other than Trout (and obviously Salmon...).

The owner would still need permission from the Scottish Government as a permit is required and the net has to be tagged with an identification number. The permit is free though.

I was more surprised at the amount of abuse I got for suggesting that the traps had been set illegally as there are lots of people who believe that there are no permissions required in Scotland....that is despite me pointing them to the permit application criteria.

[Rob Brownfield]

I had no idea that there were crayfish in the Don !

The Don  DSFB say there are not, but several people on various forums where I shared the article have said that they fish for Crayfish in the Don....presumably   with no licence as they were adamant that could fish for them.

One thing I have learnt from all this, Crayfish anglers are rather prone to threats and violence!

[Fred Hay]

I've never been aware of crayfish in the Don nor heard the term 'fyke net' before so had a look at the River Don Facebook page to see the report.
So a 'fyke' net is similar to a keep net used by coarse anglers but I assume that one end is open with a funneled entrance to allow the prey species to enter.
I also noted that it had been baited with shrimps/prawns.
So presumably it could have been used for any species , so if there are no crayfish in the Don, it could have been used to catch minnows or eels  or perhaps trout. as I couldn't believe that salmon would enter it unless it was placed in a area where salmon run a specific narrow channel i.e. weir dyke.
I don't know about the legality of placing such a trap in the river but know minnows were caught with dimple bottom bottle with a hole in them prior to live bait fishing being banned.
If we give the perpetrator the benefit of the doubt I would suggest that they were probably targeting eels which used to prolific in the Don and considered a delicacy by some.
It's a pity that the person/s who set the net was not caught as we may never know for what purpose it was set and can only speculate - let's hope it is nothing sinister and that we do not have crayfish in the river.

[Rob Brownfield]

If we give the perpetrator the benefit of the doubt I would suggest that they were probably targeting eels which used to prolific in the Don and considered a delicacy by some.

Unfortunately for those of us that enjoy catching big eels (to return them), it is currently illegal to target eels by any method. The only exception is by a licensed eel fisherman,  but I believe the last licence was issued about 3 years ago, so by theory, there are no more eel fisherman in Scotland (legal).