Protecting Atlantic Salmon in the River Almond

Over the past 7 years, a great deal of effort has gone into making it easier for Atlantic salmon to get back into the river Almond, enabling them to reach spawning habitat within the catchment. Millions have been spent on fish pass easements at the many barriers meaning salmon are returning and reaching more habitat for them to spawn, grow and then head back out to sea, growing into adults to start the process all over again.

The Almond catchment has many pressures, some are difficult to fix, some are relatively simple if the will is there. Over the past 9 years+, the Forth Rivers Trust and the Forth District Salmon Fishery Board have been highlighting these pressures to the environmental regulator SEPA in the hope they can be addressed to protect Atlantic salmon within the River.

One pressure which has been an issue for migratory fish is the Union Canal. Most people don’t associate the canal with the River Almond but hidden in the trees of Almondell and Calderwood Country Park is the canal feeder lade. The lade runs from just east of Mid Calder to Birds mill, abstracting water from the Almond to the union canal, ensuring it constantly has water in it.

This might not be seen as a pressure but there is growing evidence that migratory fish such as salmon are being harmed by this abstraction all due to the lade not having a screen stopping fish getting into the canal. Once the fish have been drawn into the lade they have no route to the sea and will perish. In 2020, a member of the community was walking down the tow path near Ratho when an adult salmon leapt out of the canal onto the tow path. We wouldn’t have believed it ourselves unless there was picture evidence, which there was! Other evidence that salmon are getting in include smolts being caught at the discharge point from the canal lade and the canal itself along with juvenile salmon being found in fish rescues in the lade when works were being carried out. This all points to the canal being a pressure, damaging the Almond’s fragile population of salmon.

For a number of years now, we (the Trust and Forth DSFB) have been highlighting this issue to SEPA who have the regulatory powers to ensure this pressure does not impact the river. Time and time again, we have called for screens to be put in place to prevent fish getting into the canal and time and time again, this had fallen on deaf ears with no action taking place to protect the returning fish.

Recently, the Forth District Salmon Fishery Board reported this pressure to Police Scotland’s wildlife crime officers, highlighting that a crime may be taking place under the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 2003. This then meant the Police initiated contact with SEPA and Scottish Canals, requesting something be done as a short-term solution until a long-term solution can be put in place.

This involvement of the police has raised the issue up the priorities of Scottish Canals to now commission the Forth Rivers Trust to carry out trapping within the lade between now and May, catching any smolts potentially entering the lade and then moving them into the river, out of harm’s way.

We are grateful for Police Scotland officers getting involved but this should not have had to happen. Regulation is there to protect the environment and our environmental regulator should be using it, in the interest of the environment and not the operator. It is disappointing that this issue had not been dealt with sooner as countless years of salmonids could have been lost due to inaction. In the age of a wild salmon crisis, every protection possible should be afforded to protecting fish populations for generations to come and we are pleased that the efforts of the Board, Trust and Police have now seen action being taken to protect salmonids from this pressure.

The short term measure is in place whilst Scottish Canals design and develop a long term solution. Work is being undertaken by them to make sure the measure being designed also provides water for the canal whilst protecting wildlife of the river catchment they extract from.

Over the next few months, we will be checking the trap daily and no doubt keep everyone posted how we get on and what we find.