2011 has started with a round of meetings and report writing. We're getting there with the reports - most will be on the website in the next month and the Annual Review will be out in May, book your copy if you don't already get one!
The Inland Fisheries Group meeting was a bit of an eye openner. While not really our subject in the main (sorry, I don't know much about prawn fishing) some really good pointers came out of it. Ailsa (the Development Officer) is producing a really comprehensive management plan which will hopefully help to safeguard our inshore waters. The coastal waters are really important to all of our migratory species, but particularly sea trout and eels, and its good to see that the other users are just as interested in its protection.
The SFCC/RAFTS Biologist meeting at Pitlochry was really interesting. It concentrated on sea trout and it was great to see the amount of work that's being done on that species. I managed to pick up a few ideas for our own projects which was great. Good networking in the pub that night as well, and a few handy hints to think about re. projects and funding. It's always worth a get together occasionally and in our busy lives this is one of the only chances all the Biologists have to meet and swap ideas. E-mail is great, but sometimes a chat over a meal or a couple of drinks can throw up the whole heap of new and different ideas - as well as simple things you never thought of!
Next week will see Shona helping with the Lab Skills Course at the local High School. Should be good, and education is so important. If we can interest the children in Science then they will take an interest in the things around them and hopefully be more enquiring about the impacts of their actions. On that point, congratulations to the Primary Schools on their successful grant application for more field based work. We'll be out with the children in the spring disturbing animals and hopefully getting them interested in the local environment and Science in general.
Then its the Sea Trout Workshop in Bangor. Organised by the Atlantic Salmon Trust and involving a representative number of individuals from Scotland, England, Wales and Ireland this will look at the work currently underway and what's needed in the future. Hopefully we'll come out of that with some good ideas and partnership projects for sea trout management in Britain.
In with all that - Chris and Lynne should be upping their training programme in the run up to their marathon in May. They are running the Cape Wrath Challenge in aid of the West Sutherland Fisheries Trust and Bliss, a charity for premature babies. Good luck to them as this is the hardest Marathon in Britain. You can follow their progress here and on Twitter (@WSFTrust) - if Chris can be persuaded to update! However, we are trying to make it worth their while so please make a donation and persuade your friends to do the same. A form can be downloaded from the website (http://www.wsft.co.uk/), making sure to tick Gift Aid if eligible to do so.
