Rescuing fish at Loch Venachar

Trust staff were deployed yesterday to Loch Venachar to rescue fish which had become trapped due to lack of water getting down the side channel from the loch. We were alerted by a member of public of the situation and that a number of fish had been seen in the remaining pools. 

hundreds of large and small trout, juvenile salmon, eels and lamprey were rescued from the pools which were reading a temperature of 23.9c.

Staff rescued as many fish as they could during what was probably one of the hottest days of the year so far.

Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and Scottish Water have been alerted of the situation and the Forth District Salmon Fishery Board are pushing for mitigation and a full assessment so a plan can be put in place to prevent it from damaging fish populations within the catchment.

The Trust has surveyed this area previously and found juvenile salmon and trout along with salmon redds (nests) in the winter. This isn’t how an SAC should be treated by an operator within a catchment!