The SGA Fishing Group will be submitting a response to the next 28 day Wild Fisheries consultation after Environment Minister Dr Aileen McLeod announced this week that the proposed kill licence for salmon, and associated fees, will not be progressed.
Scottish Government was considering introducing the system for the start of the 2016 season.
However, conservation proposals now being put forward for discussion include, instead, measures appropriate to the the number and status of salmon in particular rivers.
Following the announcement, the SGA Fishing Group praised the Environment Minister for taking the views of consultees seriously and advocating a balanced approach.
SGA Fishing Group Representative Duncan Ferguson said: “The Environment Minister deserves praise for listening and acting. The kill license concept would have been very difficult to enforce and police and, in some cases, may have led to more fish rather than less being killed, especially given the high level of voluntary catch and release being operated already by rod anglers (82 per cent of all fish caught in 2014).
“The SGA Fishing Group believes the ideas now up for discussion could help to strike the right balance between salmon conservation, which is necessary, and the needs of the workers and communities that depend on anglers coming to our rivers to fish, and the benefits that brings.”
