National Electrofishing Programme for Scotland 2021 – Forth

Staff have been busy over the last few weeks carrying out electrofishing surveys as part of the National Electrofishing Programme for Scotland (NEPS). NEPS is funded by Marine Scotland and aims to collect information which supports the determining of river categories and fish population health throughout Scotland.

In the Forth, we have 60 sites to do. 30 which are funded by Marine Scotland and an additional 30 funded by the Forth District Salmon Fishery Board. The additional 30 funded by the Forth DSFB are focused on the Allan, Forth and Teith with the 30 sites funded by Marine Scotland focusing on the other rivers within the Forth District.

Sites are chosen by Marine Scotland at random and some ground truthing to see if sites are suitable needs to then take place. If a site isn’t suitable, we disqualify it and Marine Scotland issue us with a new randomised site.

Last week, we had to pause our electrofishing as water temperatures became too hot to safely fish. Anything above 18c can put undue stress on the fish and makes electrofishing less reliable and staff were recording temperatures ranging from 19c all the way up to 25c.

Thankfully, the rivers have cooled down a bit so staff are back out this week to continue our monitoring efforts. Here are a few photos from surveys so far.