Into 2013

Report writing has progressed well and we hope to get the final reports onto the Website in the next few days - just a bit more checking of grammar, spelling and basic geography! Keep an eye on the Website (www.wsft.co.uk) for final production. The Annual Review is also going well - with just one section to be completed when the report is finally received fron the contractors - but won't be available until April. This is to let us update the accounts for the year. Again, it will be available on the Website or as a hard copy from the Biologists (wsft@btconnect.com), although there will be a charge of £5 for the hard copy.

Mink raft at Tarbet

Kate is still out monitoring mink rafts on behalf of the Scottish Mink Initiative, although thankfully has yet to find any mink prints. She is only one of the many volunteers around the area involved in checking traps and their sterling work has to be recognised. Without these unsung volunteers the area would be a lot more vulnerable to the impact of this, and other, non-native species. The Trust, as part of the RAFTS network, is hoping to receive an EU grant to further maintain and extend the volunteer network and tackle non-native species within the area. Watch this space towards the autumn to see if we were successful or not.



Spawning salmon

November saw us out on the riverbanks trying to see spawning salmon - with spectacularly successful results! The dipper activity as we walked up the river was a real giveaway, and spawning was still happening when we reached the site. A first for Kate, the fish were not even remotely interested in us and we were there for about 30 minutes as they finished that redd and moved out into the middle to dig another one before heading back to our bank. Unfortunately our attempts to film the action were a bit of a disaster - too far out for the underwater camera - but exciting all the same. There's always a thrill when watching fish in the wild.


Predated during spawning time

This is obviously a popular spot with the fish, with 2 dead cock salmon found on the bank within 20 metres of each other. While sad to see, the animals had obviously been too busy to see the predator - or were just wiped out by the efforts of it all! A large number of salmon will die during and after spawning and the carcasses provide important nutrients to the system - as well as supporting our larger predators at this lean (and cold) time.

Sampling for the sea lice dispersal project (in conjunction with SAMS and Loch Duart Ltd) continues, with the latest samples collected in January. Thankfully there was a bit of a break in the weather and the second day was relatively pleasant - unfortunately the other 2 days were rough courtesy of the winds with one site having to be abandonned while another was sampled in conditions that were definitely not the best!


Sea louse nauplii - the dark spot
is an easy id feature

Analysis proved a bit better this time - very quick thanks to the lack of plankton! We still found a fair few sea lice however, and also recorded our first Nauplii. While it’s not good to see that there are sea lice out there, it is good to know that we didn’t just miss them in the blank samples and that, yes, we can identify them!

 
Big thanks have to be extended to the boat crews for their help in collecting the samples and to Sonja for her organisational skills and help with the ID. Her little tubes of home grown lice are well used for reference and the peering at poor quality photos to confirm or otherwise our ID was very gratefully received. We have many more samples to collect and analyse over the next year or so, and that will be made much easier with the LDL input.

The Sutherland Fly -
a killer for all species

Unfortunately the excitement in October of our first internet sale was short-lived. While people appear to be looking at the shop there has been little activity in the way of new sales. Hopefully the start of the fishing season will trigger interest in fishing merchandise. Our polo shirts, t-shirts, baseball caps and Sutherland Trust flies can be found at www.wsft.co.uk/merchandise.html.

Looking forward into 2013, we're starting to plan the new work programme and looking forward to the start of the field work. Sweep netting will be starting in March - hopefully the week of the 25th - then that's us monthly until October. Any volunteers out there get in touch, we'd be delighted for the help and the craig is usually good with the chance of seeing some cracking fish.

 

Other than that, the electrofishing season is planned - weather permitting - and the education programme being sorted. Over the next few years we'll be visiting the schools in order to deliver 'Pearls in the Classroom' - an SNH/RAFTS initiative, and are also keen to get 'Mayfly in the Classroom' underway. The Ghillies Seminar is also in preparation - together with 2 public talks by Tony Andrews on the AST SALSEA project and salmon at sea for April (talks will be the evening of 11th (Lochinver) and 12th (Scourie)). It is also hoped that Scourie Detectives will run this June and we'll hopefully be back to the Highland Game Fair in August, so things are looking good on that front.

 

We are also hoping to find funding for a sea trout tracking project. This will run in conjunction with a number of partners and hopefully address the issues of marine planning in connection with sea trout and sea trout conservation. While it is unlikely that this will start in 2013, there is always a chance that things may move more quickly.

We can be ‘liked’ at www.facebook.com/westsutherlandfisheriestrust or followed at @WSFTrust. We are always looking for comments and suggestions for improvement so please have a look and get in touch. We can be contacted at wsft@btconnect.com or via the website (www.wsft.co.uk).