00:00I've just walked to the Aberdeen and District Angling Association, which is here in the city of Aberdeen.
00:07Behind me is the Bothy where members meet and have meetings, and they're going to be telling me a bit about their concerns to do with the level of salmon,
00:17which are an endangered species in Scotland, the Atlantic salmon, and just how the population is struggling in the River Dee,
00:25which is also what you can see behind me here in Aberdeen.
00:30Some of the issues they've mentioned include predation from seals, which is quite a recent change, and changes in climate as well.
00:38But yeah, I'm just going to go and talk to a couple of them to hear what it is they're doing about the population numbers
00:45and what they hope to see change to help the salmon in the future.
00:50I'm Murray Hirsten. I've been a member of the Association for over 30 years, Aberdeen District Angling Association.
00:56I've been on the committee for the last four years. I've been fishing here for even longer.
01:01I first cast on the River Dee when I was 17 years old. I am now 68.
01:06In that time, I've seen a huge decline in the number of salmon in the river, sadly.
01:12It used to be people would go out and get several salmon in a day.
01:17Now you'll be looking to get several salmon in a season, if you are lucky.
01:21It's started off as the spring run has almost completely disappeared.
01:27Now it's just a few fish coming up in the main summer run, and they're always smaller fish.
01:32I think it's a shame because angling itself is a great sport. It's a great thing to be part of.
01:38It has helped me feel wonderful being outdoors amongst nature.
01:44And it's also just a very democratic sport at the end of the day.
01:48I've always said that when you're up and down there on the river, it doesn't matter who you are.
01:52If you're fishing rod in the hand, you're all equal.
01:54You all speak about the same things.
01:56You all enjoy a good chat, and you go home to wherever you go home from, came from.
02:00And it's just, you're happy at the end of the day, another day is fishing.
02:06Certainly one of the problems we have now is with seals in the river.
02:10There are many problems facing salmon with fish-eating birds, goose-handers in the river,
02:16which are a fairly new species that came here about 150 years ago.
02:21The biggest problems we face, we know are at sea,
02:23because the salmon are just not coming back in the numbers that they used to be.
02:27We're trying to do everything we can to improve the habitat.
02:30But what we're finding is an increasing number of seals in the river.
02:35And this is a new phenomenon.
02:37I would say certainly the last 10, 15 years, the number of seals are now staying.
02:43And they're actually living in the river.
02:45If they go out to sea, very briefly, they come back into the river.
02:48They're feeding on salmon.
02:49We see that.
02:49We know we're limited to what we can do in terms of control of that.
02:54But what we are seeing is this is not just a problem for Aberdeen or the Dee or any other river here.
03:00It's a problem throughout the salmon's habitat.
03:04And some countries are really making progress with this.
03:07They're introducing barriers that will stop seals entering the river,
03:10but yet allow salmon to fish upstream.
03:12It's complicated.
03:14It's in its infancy.
03:15But we need to get ahead of the game and start to do things like that here
03:18or we will lose our salmon completely.
03:22My name is Paul Adderton.
03:24I'm the president of the Aberdeen and District Angling Association.
03:29I've been a member of the association for over 40 years.
03:32And it's been a great privilege to be fishing on the River Dee.
03:36But sadly, from when I first came here and started fishing on the River Dee,
03:41the catches have dropped dramatically.
03:44And it's a very sad time now to become fishing on the River Dee for the lack of salmon.
03:50There are many reasons advocating the declining salmon.
03:54Some in the river, some out at sea, and some up there with climate change.
03:59On the River Dee itself, we're fortunate that we have a very strong River Dee
04:06salmon fishery board committed to restoring the fishing back to what it was
04:10with the help of the River Dee Trust.
04:13And we've seen some very good examples of this by improving the habitat along the river
04:18and also in the tributaries.
04:21There's an initiative now going ahead to save the spring.
04:24I'd like to hear it.
04:26We have saved the spring.
04:27How long do I have to wait before we change the tents from saved to saved?
04:31I don't know.
04:32But I hope it's in my lifetime.
04:35In the 40 years I've been fishing here, it's not as good as it was.
04:40Will it come back?
04:41I don't know.
04:43I hope the people in authorities, the decision makers,
04:47really come to grips and make their mind up what they're going to do.
04:50One of the biggest problems we have in this part of the river, the lower reaches of predators,
04:56and that's the seal.
04:57The seal is predating upon the salmon.
05:00The salmon is an endangered species, and the seal is a protected species.
05:05So it's a bit of a dichotomy, really, what we're going to do there.
05:09Again, somebody has to make the decision.
05:12The other predator we have on the river are the gooseanders, fish-eating birds.
05:17They weren't indigenous to the river.
05:20They've moved in and established themselves.
05:23And they're feeding all the smolts, paw, elvins of young salmon.
05:29So the poor fish has got a lot against it just now.
05:33But the biggest friend the salmon has is the salmon angler.
05:37Lose the salmon angler, you'll lose the salmon.
05:39Lose the salmon, you'll lose the salmon angler.
05:41The two go together.
05:42And that's something we have to preserve.
05:47So we're going to...
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