December 31, 2011
Between The Lines is taking an extended sabbatical to work on a special project. This is expected to last throughout 2012. It is hoped that this journal will resume publication in a new and updated format thereafter. Meanwhile, existing postings will remain online for reference.
Many thanks to all regular readers and contributors.
Best regards for the New Year.
Gordon Mack
December 31, 2011
IT MIGHT be the close season in Scotland for salmon fishing, but there was to be no festive season truce this year it seems in the on-going battle between anglers and commercial interests over conservation and exploitation of the iconic species. (more…)
December 14, 2011
A 34.5lb SALMON from the River Nith in Dumfries and Galloway has won the 2011 Savills Malloch Trophy for its captor, angler Sam Valentine. (more…)
October 18, 2011
GOOD TO see BBC Scotland finally addressing getting stuck in to the controversy surrounding salmon farming this evening with a special investigation into the risks of sea lice to stocks of wild migratory Atlantic salmon and sea trout. (more…)
October 17, 2011
Garry Dog: Born on the Tweed
THE TALE of Garry, the cross retriever of Borders’ minister Denholm Fraser, who give birth to one of the world’s best known salmon flies, continues to attract interest. (more…)
September 27, 2011
2010 was a record year for rod caught salmon and grilse in Scotland
IT IS bewildering to have to digest the variety of conflicting reports on the status of Scotland’s Atlantic salmon population in recent weeks. (more…)
September 22, 2011
IN THE latest instalment of Not Exactly Fishing, Gordon Mack ponders the values of catch returns and makes his own analysis of a week’s fishing this summer in South Uist. (more…)
September 21, 2011
THREE new websites launched recently by the salmon and sea trout angling lobby are worth bookmarking.
While the general objectives of the sites are not identical, there is a common topic which is clear – the ongoing campaign to raise awareness of the risks of untrammeled expansion of inshore salmon farming to wild migratory fish.
The first, by the Salmon & Trout Association (S&TA), one of the UK’s oldest and most respected game fishing charities, entitled STAnd Up For Wild Salmon went live earlier this summer.
The crisply-designed, well illustrated and easy to navigate platform, which claims to be interactive, fast-moving and regularly updated, is the first site aimed solely at establishing an online resource to challenge the aquaculture industry’s assertion that it is in no way to blame for the decline in Scottish west coast Atlantic salmon catches.
Janina Gray, website project leader and head of science at the S&TA, says:
Janina Gray, S&TA head of science
“The S&TA Aquaculture Campaign doesn’t aim to close down fish farming, but to move the salmon farming industry towards a more environmentally sustainable position, with particular emphasis on protecting wild salmon and sea trout from the impacts of poorly-operated and regulated fish farming. This interactive website is designed to engage as well as inform users.
“The S&TA is investing tens of thousands of pounds in the fight against damaging fish farming practices in Scotland, and it is absolutely essential that as many concerned people as possible support this campaign.”
The other two websites mark online facelifts for the Association of Salmon Fishery Boards (ASFB) and the Rivers and Fisheries Trusts of Scotland (RAFTS), closely linked organisations which are playing a major role in the campaign to force the Government to tighten the regulations surrounding marine-based salmon farming.
Callum Sinclair, Director of RAFTS says: “There is a great deal of good work taking place across Scotland in support of our freshwater fish, fisheries and habitats to protect and improve them now and for the future.
“We want these new websites to be places where anyone interested can hear of some of this work and of the range of challenges and issues being faced and other developments important to ASFB, RAFTS and their members. It is important to us that as wide a range of partners, interested bodies and individuals know what is actually taking place in the complicated world of fisheries management.”
The two sites apply distinctly different designs, but the ASFB platform with its funereal white-text-on-black background, bears something of a resemblance to the S&TA campaign website and struggles a little to present its many and varied policies in digestible chunks.
While it scores a major hit with its online news blog and downloadable newsletters, there is a missed opportunity to offer an RSS feed for updated content.
June 8, 2011
In the latest instalment of Not Exactly Fishing, Gordon Mack recalls how his beloved hill loch retreat, tucked away off the beaten track in the foothills of The Cuillin was unexpectedly burgled. (more…)
June 8, 2011
IT is comforting to note that I am not alone in identifying the SNP Government in Scotland of being long on rhetoric but coming up short on action when it concerns many aspects of marine conservation. And Richard Lochhead, the fisheries minister stands accused again of being out of touch with reality in the latest newsletter of COAST, the Arran-based sea conservation organisation.
THE WAY WE WERE: Arran's Lamlash Fishing Festival in its 1960s heydays
It takes Lochhead to task in no uncertain terms for refusing to legislate against Clyde scallop dredging and calls his comments on the subject: “breathtakingly wrong.”
The newsletter, which always delivers a thoughtful view, notes: “Soon after it became clear that the Scottish National Party had secured a historic majority in Holyrood, Alex Salmond announced that he would rule for ‘all the people who imagine we can live in a better land.’ It is a worthy vision, but for now it seems the First Minister rules primarily for those with short-term commercial interests when it comes to scallop fisheries regulation. Mr Salmond would be well-advised to look further than the mobile scallop fishing fleet for people with imagination”
Read the newsletter, here.
Clyde on verge of sea fishing ‘meltdown’
Government lands historic catch
'Touches the soul of angling'
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