THE DON DISTRICT SALMON FISHERY BOARD Superintendents Annual Report For The Year 2009 Looking upstream towards the Grampian Mountains where the River Don starts her Journey.
DON AND DISTRICT SALMON FISHERY BOARD SUPERINTENDENTS ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE YEAR 2009 SUMMARY OF FISH STOCKS, ANGLING, SPAWNING, HABITAT AND HATCHERY SUPERINTENDENT Jim Kerr 17 Norman Gray Park, Blackburn, Aberdeen, AB21 0ZR Tel: 01224 790005 Mob: 07836645510 DEPUTY SUPERINTENDENT Martin Webster Tel: 01467 633309 Mob: 07836645509 SENIOR BAILIFF Steven Murphy Mob: 07518339595 MILL OF NEWE SALMON HATCHERY Tel: 01975 651488 AUXILIARY BAILIFF M Beadie, Aberdeen HONORARY BAILIFFS D, Mackie, Littlewood Estate G, Ogilvie, Kildrummy Estate N, James, Burnhervie, Inverurie
STATE OF RIVER The start of 2009 was a very cold one with Ice flows slowly moving down stream from the upper catchment, the upper Don valley was covered in a blanket of snow. It was not until the 15 th of February that weather conditions changed, and a large snow melt over the Don catchment put the river into full flood at a height of 7ft. This level of water fell back very slowly and by the end of February the river level was sitting at 2ft above summer flows. The next four months of the year saw only small periodic rises in levels. July turned out to be a very wet month, with continual heavy rain showers making the river levels very unpredictable for that time of year. The month of August was a more settled month with river levels running approximately 2ft above summer low flows. On the 5 th of September the river level was up by 7ft, after this date the river fell back very quickly and by the end of that month the river level was as low as it had been since May, sitting just above very low summer flows. For first three weeks of October river flows were on the low side at 1ft above normal flows. On the 22 nd of the month continuous heavy rain put the river into full flood conditions, with the river reaching a height of 8ft on the 23 rd of the month. From the 24 th until the end of the month river levels receded very slowly. On the 31 st of the month the river height was recorded at 3ft above normal flow. The very unpredictable river flows continued through November with the second largest flood just 10 days after the previous flood on the 23 rd of October. On the 2 nd of the month the river rose to a height of 7ft and did not subside until the 4 th of the month. The persistent showers kept the river on a high for the whole month. November saw the highest river flows for the whole year. Constant wet weather continued throughout the first two weeks of December, keeping river levels on a high. It was not until the 20 th of the month when the weather changed from rain to frost and snow that the river level started to drop. At the top of the river system on the last week of the month, ice flows were starting to form as the over night air temperature was dropping to well below freezing. The graph below shows the river flows for the year 2009.
FISH IN RIVER AND ANGLING The angling effort for salmon during 2009 was very much on the low side to say the least; the only months that saw an increase in angling activity were in the last two weeks of February when 15 spring fish were landed. In September, excellent angling effort from Stoneywood paper mill to the lower Don produced in excess of over a 100 salmon landed for the month. The good catches continued into the first three weeks of October until the big flood on the 22 nd. The 6 months between February and September did produce salmon catches but not in any great numbers, whether this was because of the lack of salmon or the lack of angling effort it is very hard to say. To summarise the spring catches this year we can only go by the returns that have come into the Board, which showed a poor spring run but saying that, good numbers of spring salmon were caught at our catching area at Strathdon whilst catching brood stock. Which does show that a good number did enter the river, just the lack of anglers? It was quite evident that the bulk of the Grilse run and summer Salmon were late coming into the system this year, as has been the trend for the past few years. From late august until well into October anglers were still catching fresh sea liced Grilse, which shows how the timing of Salmon runs have changed over the last few years. On the last week of October right through November good runs of Salmon were making their way to the head waters of the river, where the first sign of early Kelts were seen at Strathdon in the 3 rd week of November at the Newe Weir. December turned very cold as winter started to move in on the north east which dropped the river temperature, and movement of salmon within the system slowed right down. However the spawning beds we checked all showed gravel cutting of fresh Redds. The Sea Trout and Brown Trout fishing has been excellent this year, with a lot of specimen Brown Trout caught up and down the river system. The Sea Trout has shown a vast improvement from the previous year of 2008. Overall I would personally say that it was a fair season, but I think if there had been more fishing effort in the spring catch figures would have improved A lot of anglers I have spoken to over the season have said to me that there are very few rivers left in Scotland which has excellent wild brown trout of the size and quality that there is on the Don. SUMMARY OF COASTAL FISHINGS During the coastal salmon season very few fish were landed. Rough inshore swells and very often rough seas, made it very difficult for the netsmen to operate their nets on the shore line. For many weeks they were unable to get a net in and when they did it just got damaged with the battering of the inshore swells. As the season is a short one they hope for a fine summer with calm balmy seas but as we all know there has not been a summer like that for along time, here s hoping 2010 is a better one for the nets men.
SMOLT MIGRATION The first sign of this years Smolt migration was during the 2 nd week of May, on the Alford stretch of water just on sunset. A small group of Smolts were seen coming to the surface and diving away again as one angler said it s like watching small shoals of sprats, a glint of silver and they were gone. On the Kintore stretch of river at the end of May anglers fishing in the evenings for Trout were being hampered by Smolts taking their small flies which is the norm at this time of year. But the good river flows during the Smolt migration months would have given them good cover to get to sea safely and away from predators within the river system. Overall there were good reports from anglers this year seeing good numbers whilst fishing in the evenings. Let s hope they make it to the feeding grounds. THE DON CONSERVATION CODE The Board have made several changes to the code for 2010. A copy of the amended code should have been circulated to all river proprietors by the time this report is received, hopefully these changes will help to protect, conserve and enhance Salmon and Sea Trout stocks for future years to come. GYRODACTYLUS SALARIS G.S is still a very big threat to all UK Rivers. River proprietors are urged to inform river users of the dangers of G.S entering the river system which if allowed to do so would be devastating to all fish stocks. All anglers and water enthusiasts are urged to disinfect all equipment before entering the river if they have been using the same equipment outside the UK. Disinfectant can be supplied by the Don Board or the Don Trust when requested. BROWN TROUT IN THE CLASSROOM It has been another successful year for the school projects. Kicking off the school project was the Brown trout being introduced to Inverurie Secondary School. In attendance on the day were members of the Inverurie Angling Association, who were the sponsors of the equipment for the project, and Iain Morrison from the Don Trust who took a lot of good photos which are on the Trust website. Doctor Sam Martin from the Aberdeen University, who works as a Biologist, gave the children an educational talk on Brown Trout. Inverurie Angling Association offered the children free fishing to try to encourage them to try fishing, and told the children that fishing equipment would be
supplied to anyone who was interested in trying out the sport. As the weeks passed the Trout in the class room rapidly used up their yolk sack and by the month of May the Trout were ready to be released back into the wild. The Brown Trout were released at Inverurie Bridge, it was a good turn out for the event with excellent press coverage from the Press and Journal and the Inverurie Herald. The Inverurie Angling Association sponsored the project and the president Mr Peter Dow made a donation towards the hatchery fund on behalf of the Association; Thank you Peter from myself and the Don Fishery Board. SALMON IN THE CLASS ROOM This year two Primary Schools took part in salmon in the classroom, they were Keig primary and Tullynessle primary school; 50 eggs were introduced into the schools aquariums in early February. The children were successful in hatching out the young salmon, and rearing them up to the releasing stage. The bailiffs and Lizzie Bacon took the two schools out on field visits to release their salmon. Luck was not with us for Tullynessle School, the heavens opened and the rain poured down, but the children still loved their day out, paddling in the water in the rain watching the young salmon swim under the river bank. Children with their bags of young salmon fry. Children releasing their salmon. Keig primary school also had a great day out with the Don Board staff releasing their salmon on the Castle Forbes estate, where Mrs Forbes was also in a attendance speaking to all the children and helping. In the classroom the Keig pupils did a magnificent collage of the river with salmon swimming up the river as you can see by the picture below.
Later on during the summer months we took the children out once more to do some electro fishing to show them all the different types of fish that live quite happily together, and to identify some of the aquatic life forms that the fish would be feeding on before some of them migrate to the sea for the first time. All the children had great fun as you can see by the two photos below. The first photo on the left is the children and myself examining the young fish after electro fishing; the second picture shows us releasing our catch back to the Keig Burn, which has good stock of Brown Tout and one or two Salmon Fry. HABITAT IMPROVEMENTS As extensive clearing of blockages from feeder streams within the catchment were carried out in 2008, we never came across any during this year. I expect after the severe storms during the last two months of this year, that there will be quite a few trees down in the upper catchment that we will come across in 2010, whilst assisting the Don Trust in a habitat survey of the river catchment. INVASIVE SPECIES As I reported in my last annual report of 2008 a Giant Hog weed survey was to be carried out in 2009. This commenced on the second week of May 2009 and was completed by the end of May 2009. A total of 33.37km of river bank was walked. It was an eyes on survey, and a total of 2707 Hogweed plants were counted and mapped. The map used was Memory-Map Northern Scotland 1:50,000 scale using ordnance survey Landranger. Each
member of staff had a printed map of their section of river to be surveyed on that day, when they came across Hogweed it was simply marked on the maps, with an exact count. We used bridges to divide the river into sections, each section has a letter, an example would be section (A ) North bank, Newe Bridge to Buchaam Bridge, Section (B) South bank, Buchaam Bridge to Culquoich. All the bridges on the Map have a Grid reference and the direction of river flow has also been added. As you look at the mapping you will see numbers in yellow boxes on both sides of the river, these are Hogweed plants. Once these plants go into Flower and then throw their seed during late summer, the figures could easily double by 2010 as each plant can produce 30 to 50,000 seeds per year. You can view this document on the River Don web site at, www.riverdon.org.uk for those who can t get on line, please don t hesitate to request a copy from the D.D.S.F.B. We are at this time awaiting positive feed back from Jacobs who are handing affairs for the A.W.P.R. RIVER RESTOCKING PROGRAMME FOR 2009 During 2009 approximately 422,500 salmon were stocked out into the upper catchment area, totals of unfed fry, eyed ova stocked and mapping below. A total of 153,500 salmon eyed ova were planted into the river system in the month of January. The weather at the time of planting out the eyed ova was very cold with snow covering the ground; the river conditions were good with low river levels which were ideal for planting out the eggs. The Annual Redd count showed low level of spawning on the areas chosen for planting, which should give very little competition from naturally spawned salmon in the locations chosen. Each location has been mapped and a grid reference taken of each site where the artificial Redds were made, the blue dots on each location on the maps indicate an artificial Redd. Cock Bridge to Luib Bridge 55,500 salmon eyed ova were planted over 5 sites chosen, on each site approximately 10 to 15 artificial Redds were made. The grid reference of each site is as follows. Site (1) NJ 25852 09160 Site (2) NJ 26032 09295 Site (3) NJ 26212 09370 Site (4) NJ 26272 09176 Site (5) NJ 26522 09060 St Machars chapel Cemetery Corgarff 50,000 salmon eyed ova were planted out over 4 sites, starting 900 meters above St Machars chapel Cemetery at Corgarff and finishing 103 meters above the mouth of the Corriehoul Burn. Each site contains approximately 10 to 12 artificial Redds, grid reference of each site was taken and the blue dots on the mapping indicate a Redd. The grid reference for the four sites are as follows. Site (1) NJ 28227 07846 Site (2) NJ 28217 08055 Site (3) NJ 28217 08305 Site (4) NJ 28247 08385 Belniden to Inverernan 36,000 Salmon eyed ova were planted out over 3 sites chosen. The 3 sites are spread out between Belniden and Inverernan; all sites have Grid reference numbers which were
taken at the time of planting and are on the map in the report. The Grid references are as follows. Site (1) NJ 32282 10310 Site (2) NJ 33037 10205 Site (3) NJ 33117 10745 Waterside Strathdon On the last site 12,000 salmon eyed ova were planted out in one site with 12 artificial Redds made, each Redd containing 12,000 eggs. The Grid reference for this site is as follows. NJ 36748 12040
The remainder 269,000 were stocked out as unfed fry, 5 tributaries were chosen which were as follows. Allt Reppachie 8,000 salmon fry stocked Grid reference, NJ 21341 09000 Meoir Veannaich 20,000 salmon unfed fry were stocked above impassable falls, Grid reference, NJ 21951 07745 Cock Burn 22,000 salmon unfed fry stocked Grid reference, NJ 25737 08780 Ernan Burn 45,000 salmon unfed fry stocked Grid reference, NJ 30367 12585 Nochty Burn 25,000 salmon unfed fry stocked Grid reference, NJ 32404 15430 Main River stocking of salmon unfed fry are as follows. Delnadamph 70,000 salmon unfed fry stocked out over 4 sites, on each site a Grid reference is shown on the maps. Site 6 Between cock Bridge and Luib Bridge 30,000 salmon unfed fry stocked Grid reference NJ 26327 09310 and NJ 26482 08895 Site 8 Main river 20,000 salmon unfed fry stocked out between NJ 31752 10730 and NJ 32172 10730. Culfork Main river 23,000 salmon unfed fry stocked out between NJ 33092 10360 and NJ 33217 10785. Candacraig ford 5,000 salmon unfed fry stocked out between NJ 34197 10765 and NJ 34692 10915. Site 12 Main river 14,000 salmon unfed fry stocked out between NJ 36418 12355 and NJ 36783 12030 which is approximately 500 yards above the New Weir. Maps of the locations with quantities are on the next page with grid references attached to each location.
SEA TROUT RESTOCKING PROGRAM APRIL 2009 The locations this year for the Sea trout were 3 sites in the Ernan burn and 3 sites in the Nochty burn. A total of 21,000 unfed sea trout fry were spread out over these sites chosen, at the time of planting out the fry Grid reference of each site was taken for future reference and are marked on the map along with this report. Ernan Burn Approximately 10,000 sea trout unfed fry were stocked out over 3 sites chosen on this tributary. The grid reference for each site is as follows. Site (1) NJ 31052 Site (2) NJ 31672 12510 Site (3) NJ 32107 12245 Nochty Burn Approximately 11,000 Sea trout unfed fry were stocked out over 3 sites within the Nochty burn. The grid reference for each site is as follows. Site (1) NJ33917 15405 Site (2) NJ 33997 14985 Site (3) NJ 34067 14470
RESTOCKING PROGRAM ON BEHALF OF THE BROWN TROUT IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION APRIL 2009 This year a total of 54,000 brown trout eggs were incubated and tended to by the Don Board staff. On the 28 th of April a total of 54,000 brown trout unfed fry were stocked out into the head waters of the river Don. Six sites were chosen for this and are indicated on the map below, a Grid reference was taken of each site on the day of planting out the trout stock, these are also on the map. Weather conditions at the time of stocking were good with the river running at low levels. All the trout stock were a good strong size. The Brown Trout Improvement Association has asked the D.D.S.F.B not to rear any more Brown trout until further notice. We will however keep the 2 Brown Trout troughs in the hatchery just in case they change their minds in the future.
RIVER DON TRUST PROJECTS During the latter part of the year the Board staff and I have been assisting in some of the Don Trust projects. One of the projects was Genetic sampling of Salmon Parr which we did last year with Helen Bilsby, this project has been carried forward to this year along with the Don trust. 6 sites were chosen within the catchment and they were as follows, Nochty Burn, Cushnie Burn which is a tributary of the Leochel burn at Alford, Burnhervie Burn at Inverurie, one upper section of the Urie at Shevock Junction, and one section on the main river at Kintore. All sites chosen had excellent densities of Salmon and young Trout. Kintore was a fascinating site, we electro fished a very small area just in front of the golf club about 30meters square, on that part of the river it is very shallow and anglers use this part to cross over from one bank to the other it has also got quite a covering of thick river weed on top of the gravel, in amongst the weed we found 7 different species of fish living happily together, they included, Stone loach, Gudgen, Salmon, Trout, Eel, Lamprey, and Minnow and the amount of feed that was coming of the weed was incredible, we even had to empty our hand nets as they were covered in fresh water shrimp, you can see why the Don Trout are so big with the amount of feed that lives on the weed. In conjunction with this project is scale readings, the Board staff have been handing out scale packets to regular Don Anglers who we see on a weekly basis. If any angler can help with scale collection, please get in touch with the Don Board or Trust. If anyone would like more information on this project just go to the river Don web site. SEPA RESTORATION FUNDING SEPA have been contacting fishery boards and Trusts to make them aware that there is money available for easing fish passage above impassable obstacles within catchment areas. The 4 weirs I have chosen for the S.E.P.A Restoration funding were Delnadamph weir at the top of the system, the Leochel Burn, the Urie, and the Goval burn on the lower Don. The A.S.F.B found a specialist in the field of fish pass design and flow modelling, a Mr Mike Beach. Jamie from the Don Trust and me went round all the sites chosen with Mr Beach, the weirs were measured and photographed, and we are now awaiting a report back from Mr Beach on his findings. This funding will be ongoing on a year to year basis from SEPA which will give us and the Trust time to collate more information on possible obstructions in the river system. If any river proprietor or angler can think of any obstacles that they would like us to have a look at for future reference please get in touch. The bailiffs have also been doing survey work with the Don Trust when time allows, seeing if the habitat is good or poor above and below the weirs for returning adults to these streams. More research work will be carried out on these sites next year.
REMOVAL OF GRAVEL FROM THE NEWE WEIR STRATHDON After the big flood on the 5 th of the month hundreds of tons of Gravel shifted throughout the river system, this was more evident at the Newe Dam at Strathdon where the gravel builds up behind the Dam. As you can see by the photos below the fish pass at the top of the weir is just about blocked off by the gravel and any fish moving over the weir would quite possibly beach themselves on top of the gravel, after consulting with S.E.P.A to gain permission for gravel extraction, I was informed that as the Board own the weir it is our responsibility for all maintences which includes gravel extraction behind the weir to keep the fish passage open at all times. I phoned Mr Riley who has the intake above the weir for his hydro and informed him that I would be extracting gravel; he then very kindly offered to do the work as it needed to be done as soon as possible before the next rise in river level where adult salmon will be on the move to the spawning beds. The work was carried out at no cost to the Board. Before Gravel Extraction After Gravel extraction, fish pass now clear Just when we thought this would not happen again for a few years, nature proved us wrong. On the 23 rd of October the river reached a height of 8ft which started natural gravel movement throughout the upper system, where the Dam again started to fill up, this level fell back very quickly. November saw the largest flood of the year where the river rose to a height of 8½ feet which did not subside until the 4 th of the month with continues rain fall. This very large flood at the beginning of November brought on a large movement of gravel at the top of the river system once again, further up river on the Edinglassie Estate there was a land slide where a very large of tonnage of gravel collapsed into the Ernan burn which was washed down stream and into the main river. Whilst inspecting the spawning beds in the Strathdon area I was not surprised that some of them had disappeared, leaving deep holding pools where they used to be spawning areas. Unfortunately with all these abnormal floods and land slides the Newe dam is full of gravel once more which can t be removed until the summer months, just in case any fish have cut Redds in the gravel there. Which is another worry, as at the time of the second flood, spawning activity had been very high and I suspect the river gravel would have been soft with cutting of the gravel by salmon and trout making their Redds?
HATCHERY BROOD STOCK FOR 2009 The catching of brood stock commenced on the 13 th of October, normally it would be the 1 st of the month but as the river level was at the lowest it had been all year this was not possible, as there was no movement of salmon at the top reaches of the system. When river flows did increase on the 13 th of that month there was a big push of salmon and trout in the upper catchment, in only 5 days after this date we had our full quota for the year. O n Thursday the 22 nd of October a huge flood occurred due to continuous heavy rain over the north east, for the safety of the brood stock which were being held in our impoundment in the burn, I took the decision to release them all back to the river as the flood water was forcing our stock against the bottom screening and even though our flood channel was wide open it made no difference. This was one of the largest floods I have seen in the Strathdon area in my 30 years in working on the river. Once the flood water finally subsided it took only 3 days to get back our full stock for the hatchery once more, which shows you the amount of salmon that migrate to the top of the system each year. This year with the assistance of Mr Jamie Urquhart, the River Don Trust Biologist and the new equipment the Don trust has acquired for scale reading, it allowed us the opportunity to get results of the stock quickly. Before the Trust had this equipment we had to send our samples down to Montrose F.R.S field station to be read, and often did not receive the results for some weeks. 15 spring two sea winter salmon gave us 112,000 eggs Troughs 1-2 27, summer two sea winter salmon gave us 216,500 eggs Troughs 3-5-6-7 16 grilse 0ne sea winter salmon gave us 79,000 eggs Troughs 4-8 8 salmon Troughs used giving 408,000 salmon eggs. We did manage to catch sea trout for the hatchery this year but due to the big flood at the beginning of the month most of these fish managed to escape down the burn and back into the river, where we were left with only 3 sea trout giving us 6000 eggs. The visitors we have had to the hatchery are as follows. On the 10 th of the month 10 students from Aberdeen University Zoology, studying Biological science paid us a visit. On the 13 th of the month we had two schools Lumsden Primary in the morning and Monymusk Primary in the afternoon. On the 15 th of the month 20 guests from the A.D.A.A came to the hatchery. On the 18 th of the month Craigievar Primary school visited in the morning and Towie Primary in the afternoon, late afternoon early evening saw Aberdeenshire council combine their hatchery visit with a board meeting in the Bothy.
On the 19 th of the month Kemnay Secondary School had their visit in the morning and Midmar Primary came in the afternoon. There were individual visitors in and out of the hatchery from time to time and all were shown round. ANNUAL REDD COUNT The severe weather we have had since November right through to the beginning of 2010 has made river conditions impossible to achieve a Redd count for 2009. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would just like to thank all the Board members for their commitment to the Board and the work they have carried out on behalf of the board. I would also like to thank my two staff members Martin and Stephen for their hard work and commitment to the river, as these two are my eyes and ears when I can t get on the river due to paper work. I would also like to thank the Don Trust for their achievements during 2009 and for the assistance from Jamie when we needed an extra pair of hands. The Inverurie Angling Association have done an excellent job on the Brown Trout education programs, so well done to them and they also gave a donation to the hatchery fund this year, thank you. My last thank you is to Mr George Alpine, clerk to the Board and Mr Alistair Wallace, Chairman of the D.D.S.F.B for their commitment to the river. Jim Kerr River Superintendent