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Association of Salmon Fishery Boards
Spring 2003 - Posted 15th May 2003
North East Drift Net Fishery
52 out of 69 North East Netsmen, fishing from Whitby in the South to Holy Island in the North have signed a Form Of Commitment, accepting the cash offer made by NASF(UK) in January 2003 to surrender their licences. The majority are from the most productive Northern area, above the Tyne.
The 10 year average catch 1991- 2001 from these 69 nets was 33,655 salmon (over 50% of the total English catch) and 33,907 sea trout. The 52 nets to be bought are responsible for 80% of this catch, which, when allowances are made for extra fish that might be caught by the remaining 17 nets amounts to a saving of over 50,000 salmon and sea trout per year.
There are indications that some of the remaining 17 Netsmen may seek to join the buy out scheme. Some of those extra fish will be caught by anglers, but, as the emphasis is on conservation and anglers are already returning 40% of their catch, the majority will reach the spawning redds and, in so doing, secure the future of the Atlantic salmon in the British Isles.
The North Atlantic Salmon Fund (UK) is also committed to assisting the wider international objective of securing the agreements already in place with the Greenland and Faroese Netsmen. The successful buyout of the North East driftnets will greatly enhance the sustainment of these agreements which have already done so much to improve salmon stocks in UK rivers. This buyout may also open doors which could save well over ten times as many salmon from nets and predators in Ireland. Ireland will be the last remaining Atlantic nation to allow mixed stock drift netting off its coasts.
The North East netting season begins on 1st June, and therefore all documentation and financing will have to be in place by early May if an extra 25,000 salmon and an equal number of sea trout are to be saved in 2003.
After over three years of negotiation, the cost of this exercise will be £3.34m., payable in two equal instalments, 12 months' apart. Sums already committed by members of the North Atlantic Salmon Fund (UK) and Government amount to two-thirds of this, leaving a balance over just over £1m to be raised by May 2004. The Fund is aiming to extend the time in which this large sum can be raised by means of a bank loan to cover any remaining shortfall at the time of the second & final payment to the Netsmen. This loan has to be secured and the Fund is therefore seeking not only donations but also underwriters who are prepared to secure the necessary borrowing for two to three years from the date of the second payment.
At the ASFB AGM, the Association's President, Lord Nickson, urged all Fishery Boards to contribute to the North East Drift Net buy-out, stating that it was a once in a lifetime opportunity to remove the last substantial UK interceptory salmon fishery. Recognising that rivers North and West of the Dee would not directly benefit, he encouraged financial support for the buy out for 3 important reasons:
- This will be a highly symbolic closure of an interceptory fishery, consistent with all recognised and internationally agreed salmon management practice.
- The closure will send clear signals to the Greenlanders, Faroese - and international Atlantic salmon management community as a whole - that the UK continues to take a progressive stance at "putting its house in order', thus leaving ever fewer opportunities to claim that fish saved in one place are simply removed in another.
- The closure will set a very helpful precedent for the closure of the Irish drift net fishery from which many West Coast rivers North and South of the Border will almost certainly benefit considerably.
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