Tay Catch Data

Introduction

There are several sources of catch data available for the River Tay. These include:

• Angling catches reported to the Government since 1952

• Net catches reported to the Government since 1952

• Estate records for certain beats, these may go back to the 19th century

• Netting company records, these may go back into the 19th century

• Historical observations and anecdotes found in books, records and other documents

Government angling catch data

Since 1952 all proprietors have been obliged to provide a return of salmon caught each month of each year if asked for by the Government (now Scottish Executive).  Every year the Scottish Executive publishes the total all method annual district catch in a statistical bulletin. This aggregate figure is not in itself particularly illuminating but Fisheries Research Services have supplied the TDSFB with monthly rod and net catches since 1952. These are presented below.

Monthly rod catch of salmon for the Tay District 1952 – 2007 (including released fish).

(1952 – 2006 data kindly supplied by Fisheries Research Services. 2007 is a preliminary

estimate based on Fishtay website analysis)

Government net catch data

As with angling, the Government has collected netting catches since 1952. At the end of the 1996 the last major net fisheries in the Tay closed down. Since then only very small numbers of fish have been caught. The graph below shows the monthly catches from 1952 to 1996. The netting season used to finish 20 August.

Monthly net and coble catch, Tay District 1952 – 1996

(Data kindly supplied by Fisheries Research Services)

Estate and company angling records

Historic estate records from throughout the district are currently in the process of being collated and will be presented when ready.

An example of such a record is presented below for the Stobhall beat near Stanley.

Catches from the Stobhall beat on the lower Tay from 1934 to 2007

Historic netting records

Netting records are also in the process of collation. Some readily available figures are shown below which give some indication of how Tay catches have changed over a period of 200 years.

Total numbers of grilse and salmon netted from the lower Tay and the whole of the Firth of Tay at various periods since 1784.  The catches before 1850 were obtained from Iain Robertson's book, The Tay Salmon Fisheries Since the Eighteenth Century. (Cruithne Press, Glasgow, 1988) and the most recent from Fisheries Research Services. That there was a large net fishery in the eighteenth century may seem surprising. For history click here.

Annual numbers of grilse and salmon netted in the Perth burgh water, early 19th century (Data from Robertson, Tay Salmon Fisheries since the Eighteenth Century)

Annual numbers of grilse and salmon netted on Lord Gray's Kinfauns water, early 19th century (Data from Robertson, Tay Salmon Fisheries since the Eighteenth Century)

Comments

The catch data show a number of trends.

• Whole district rod catches show marked downward tend since 1960s in early spring catches

• Net catches show same early season decline, although early season net catches did not increase in 1960s like rod catches

• In the 1950s most rod caught fish were taken in the spring. Autumn catches were very low.

• In the 1950s the nets caught most of their fish in summer, though in much smaller numbers than in the 1960s and early 70s. In the 1950s spring catches made a bigger proportion of the net catch than later.

• Rod catches in June and July have tended to increase over time. July was always the main month for the nets and their decline and closure seems to coincide with the increase in July rod catches.

• Autumn rod catches were initially very low, started increasing in the 1960s but reached a peak in the late 80s / early 90s. Though there has been some decline, autumn catches are still dominant. Read more about changing autumn runs by clicking here.

• Although autumn rod catches were higher after than 1960s than during the 1960s, August had been the peak netting month in the 1960s (bearing in mind August only represents 20 days of netting). After the 1960s August net catches declined even though July catches increased for a time, and thereafter August was never as good for the nets as July became.

• Stobhall catches were much lower before the 1960s. Lower fishing effort may be an issue.

• From the 1930s to the 1950s most Stobhall fish were caught in spring. Autumn catches were very low. Spring catches during this period were relatively good, especially bearing in mind the beat was not being fished as it was after the 1960s.

• Recent autumn catch trends for Stobhall essentially follow the whole district catch.

• In the 1950s most fish caught by nets were reported as "salmon" as opposed to "grilse". There was then a gradual change and by the 1990s the big majority of fish were reported as "grilse".

• Before about 1810 most fish caught by the nets were described as "salmon" but the proportion of "grilse" was increasing and by the 1830s the majority of fish were described as "grilse".

The trends described above are not unusual. There is now abundant evidence from other rivers, both from catch data and contemporary commentators which show that the dominant sea-age of salmon changes as does run timing. Particularly good records are available for the River Tweed, where netting was long controlled by the Berwick Salmon Fisheries Company Ltd.

This graph shows monthly catches (grilse and salmon combined) by the Berwick Salmon Fisheries Company from the River Tweed between 1840 and 1987 (data from BSF Co). BSF was the major, but not the only, netting operator. Netting ceased on 15 September, a month later than the Tay, though in the early 19th century it continued into October.

The Tweed data show that in the mid 19th century most fish were caught in the summer months of July and August (presumably grilse). Summer catches decreased as the century progressed but the modest September catches improved somewhat. Very notably spring salmon catches increased greatly in the 1920s, when summer, and especially autumn, catches became quite low. Summer and autumn catches increased again in the 1960s when spring catches started to fall again.

This general pattern of increased spring salmon abundance between the 1920s and the 1960s seems pretty universal in the British Isles. It was also associated with low abundance of summer grilse and poor autumn runs. In the 60s summer grilse runs suddenly increased again and increased autumn runs also followed.