Sea trout fishery statistics: 2016 season

Catch and Effort Reported by Scottish Sea Trout Fisheries in 2016

The rod and line fishery

In total, 3,499 sea trout were reported caught and retained in the rod and line fishery. A further 14,555 sea trout were reported caught and released. We have no comprehensive time series of fishing effort information associated with the rod and line fishery.

Total rod catches (retained and released) of sea trout for Scotland as a whole have declined over much of the period since 1952, when our records began. The total reported rod catch in 2016 of 18,054 was the third lowest in the time series and 84% of the previous 5-year average (Figure 1).

Finnock are sea trout which have spent less than a year at sea and making their first return to fresh water. They may also be known as whitling or herling. Finnock catches have been reported since 2004. The total rod catch of finnock in 2016 was 10,322 which was an increase of 14% compared to the previous 5-year average (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Rod And Line Fishery.

Catch and release

The proportion of the rod catch accounted for by catch and release has generally increased since 1994, when catch and release information was first recorded (Figure 2) and accounted for 81% of the total rod catch of sea trout in 2016. In addition 97% of finnock taken by the rod fishery were subsequently released in 2016. A proportion of fish released from the rod fishery may be re-caught and hence inflate the catch statistics by appearing in the reported data more than once.

Figure 2: Catch And Release, Rod And Line Fishery.

The net fisheries

812 sea trout were reported caught and retained in the fixed engine fishery. Haaf net fisheries on the Solway reported a total fishing effort of 337 net months. These fisheries do not yield data that can be easily combined with returns from gear types in the rest of Scotland and data from this region are generally omitted when calculating a national index for fixed engine fishing effort. In 2016, fixed engine effort for Scotland excluding Solway was reported as 13 trap months.

A total of 1,585 sea trout was reported caught and retained in the net & coble fishery, and the reported effort was 41 crew months.

Reported catch and effort in both net fisheries have declined over much of the period covered by our records and remain at historically low levels (Figures 3 & 4). In 2016, reported catch and effort in both net fisheries were the lowest in the respective time series.

Figure 3: Fixed Engine Fishery.

Figure 4: Net And Coble Fishery.

The catch by fishing method

In 2016, 88% of the total annual reported catch was accounted for by the rod fisheries. Fixed engine and net & coble fisheries comprised 4% and 8% respectively. Restricting the analysis to the retained catch, the rods accounted for 59% of the catch compared to 14% and 27% for the fixed engine and net & coble fisheries.

Contact

If you have a specific request for Scottish salmon and sea trout fishery information, not available at the links provided on this page, please contact us directly at ms.catchform@gov.scot

Downloads

Topic sheet no. 67 explains how we collect the catch statistics.

Topic sheet no. 68 summarises the salmon fishery statistics for the 2016 fishing season.

Both topic sheets are available for download at http://www.gov.scot/Topics/marine/Publications/TopicSheets/tslist

Summary data for fishing seasons 1952 to 2016 are available for download at http://www.gov.scot/Topics/marine/science/Publications/stats/SalmonSeaTroutCatches

These data are provided as the most complete at the time of publication. Our records are amended when further information becomes available and updated annually in April when the statistics for the most recent fishing season are published.