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The River Cononish is the headwater of the River Dochart – the
symbolic source of the River Tay and the area which
produces some of the earliest spring salmon for which
the Tay was famous. Surveys have indicated juvenile
salmon populations are poor and local anecdote suggests
brown trout have greatly declined in 30 years. Even
when stocked with salmon fry, resulting numbers were
still very low.
It is not clear why this should be so as the general
quality of the habitat is good. The Tay Foundation
is supporting an investigation to establish the cause
of this problem. In the first instance the invertebrate
community is being investigated to see whether there
might be some subtle water quality issue and in a second
phase water chemistry analyses may be considered.
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The Cononish is the symbolic headwater of the Tay,
whose source rises on Ben Lui seen in the background.
The fish population in this area has declined and investigations
are aimed at finding out why.
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