Salmon fishing: proposed river gradings for 2025 season

An assessment of the conservation status of salmon in inland waters in Scotland is carried out each year and each river or assessment group is assigned a conservation status depending on the outcome of that assessment. As a result of the latest assessment, we are proposing that the conservation status of a number of rivers or groups of rivers will change for the 2025 fishing season. A summary of these changes and a full overview of the proposed conservation status for the 2025 fishing season are available.

The detailed changes for the coming year are:

Conservation status has improved for five stocks compared to the previous year, including four stocks which will no longer require mandatory catch and release. These are:

• Hinnisdal to Haultin
• River Clyde
• River Creed
• Ullapool River

Conservation status has declined in twelve stocks compared to the previous year, including nine stocks which will become mandatory catch and release fisheries in 2025. These are:

• Abhainn Eig
• Dunbeath Water
• Endrick Water SAC
• Laxdale and Blackwater (Lewis)
• Lussa River (Jura)
• River Carron (Strathcarron)
• River Leven (Dunbartonshire)
• River Morar
• Soval Estate

We propose that River Leven (Dunbartonshire), assessed as being in good conservation status, should be awarded poor conservation status to reflect the lower grading of a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) in the catchment – Endrick Water.

We propose that River Ness, assessed as being in good conservation status, should be treated as moderate conservation status to reflect the lower grading of an SAC in the catchment - River Moriston SAC.

The River Teith SAC is assessed as being in good conservation status, while the Forth is in moderate conservation status. However, the situation is complicated by the overlap between the areas (the Teith SAC extends into the River Forth) and we again propose that we should use the lower of the two statuses for both areas, as we did for 2024.