In recent years, there has been concern about the presence of non-native Pink salmon, outbreaks of disease and escaped farmed fish in Scotland’s rivers. These can all cause serious problems for our native wild Atlantic salmon and freshwater fish. In order to fully understand the extent and severity of these issues across Scotland, we need the help of anglers and the general public to report such sightings using our online Apps.

Fisheries Management Scotland have developed a suite of Apps to help the public to report issues that they see. Our apps allow users to report information to a central database so that the information can be assessed and passed to the relevant organisation as appropriate. For example, for fish disease reports the Scottish Government’s Fish Health Inspectorate will receive an automated notification every time a record is submitted. This is one element of our wider work to address the range of pressures which our wild salmon and freshwater fish are facing.

As well as reporting information through the apps, everyone who values their local rivers and Scotland’s iconic wild salmon is being urged to join a national Call to Action, to speed up delivery of critically-important conservation measures. Our Call to Action can be viewed here.

Dr Alan Wells, Chief Executive of Fisheries Management Scotland said “Fisheries managers across Scotland are working hard to protect and restore our precious wild salmon and freshwater fish, but we cannot do this alone. We need the help of anglers, fishery owners, other water users and the general public to use our apps to report issues affecting our wild fish. This will play an important part in informing the actions that fisheries managers and Scottish Government agencies take to address these pressures.”