|
The Project will count the numbers of Salmon returning to spawn in the Gala Water, a tributary of the River Tweed that occupies around 9% its total catchment. An estimate will be made of the number of Salmon required to fully stock this tributary with spawn and count totals matched to this to see if it is being met. Such matching of actual numbers of spawners with required number is the best way of showing whether a Salmon population is at safe levels or not. If such spawning targets are not being met, conservation measures can be introduced to reduce exploitation so that enough do escape to spawn in future.
The funding would be used to purchase a VAKI River-watcher (an infra-red beam fish counter) and install it in the fish ladder over the Skinworks Cauld in Galashiels. Fish cannot pass this cauld except through the fish ladder, allowing a total count. A small building will also have to be constructed on the bank to house the VDU of the counter and this will also provide a display area for information on the counter for the general public – the counter will be near the centre of the town of Galashiels.
By giving an accurate count of the spawning escapement of Salmon back to one of the tributaries of the River Tweed. This will serve as a guide to the escapement levels of the Salmon of the Tweed as a whole as well as giving a precise account for one particular tributary - there is already one of these counters on another tributary, and the value of both together will be much greater than they can be singly : Being able to compare counts of adult spawners in two different tributaries will show if a trend is widespread or confined to one particular stock. Without this sort of information, it is impossible to be sure of the status of the stocks of the Tweed, one of the major Salmon rivers of Europe. With certain knowledge of the actual numbers of two stocks, precautionary remedial measures, such as reduction of exploitation will become politically feasible which they would not otherwise be until actual collapse became apparent.
The site for this counter is in the middle of a popular shopping area near the centre of the town of Galashiels and (security permitting) it is hoped to make the counter building an interpretation centre with a display of the counter totals as the main attraction. The counter totals will also be distributed monthly by e-mail to anyone interested, as is done with the counts from our present counter. Interpretation boards have been put up beside this counter on the Ettrick Water which have created a point of great local interest and the counter totals will also be displayed there when the final board is erected. The totals from the present counter create a great deal of interest locally, and to have counts from two counters would create even more.
It will also be possible to count the Sea-trout population of the Gala Water. A trap will be run to catch fish going through the fish ladder to give the length-frequencies of the Salmon and Sea-trout populations so that estimates for both species where sizes overlap can be made. This model of fish counter will also take digital photographs of each fish passing and species identifications may also be possible from these.
The whole aim of the fish counter is to provide annual counts of spawning Salmon for the foreseeable future, and to provide information on which management decisions can be based. The longer the data series runs, the more valuable and informative it will become. Running costs will be negligible.
|
