Sawbills and cormorants

At the end of 2009, the Spey Fishery Board again coordinated a combined application to the Scottish Government for the Spey, Conon, Ness and Beauly Rivers to control Goosanders, Mergansers and Cormorants during 2010. This was a continuation of the attempts by these District Salmon Fishery Boards to create what is anticipated will be a Moray Firth Sawbill Plan, broadly along the lines of the successful Seal Plan for the area (see the section on Seals, or click here). Furthermore, the application has again requested that our ability to control some of these birds be continued during May (rather than restricted to January – April) to provide additional protection to Salmon stocks during the annual smolt run. 

The previous application was successful and the Spey Fishery Board was awarded an interim licence from January-April 2009 to shoot 18 Goosanders, 7 Mergansers and 5 Cormorants. The interim licence was granted whilst the issue of May licensing was considered further. Due to the designation of the Inner Moray Firth and Cromarty Firth as SPAs for these species under the Habitats & Birds Directives, future schemes must consider the potentially conflicting conservation obligations of other relevant authorities for piscivorous birds against the obligations of DSFBs to conserve the fish stocks on which these birds prey.

The Spey Fishery Board was successful in subsequently being granted a licence to shoot 4 of the 18 Goosanders in May, during which trials of non-lethal methods of scaring birds were also undertaken.

The Spey Fishery Board has continued counting these species using canoes, to provide the supporting information necessary for our licence applications. Counts are carried out from Loch Insh to Spey Bay approximately once every two months, weather and river conditions permitting.

The Spey Fishery Board will continue to work with Scottish Natural Heritage and the Scottish Government to establish a Moray Firth-wide management scheme for Sawbill Ducks and Cormorants during 2010. SFB staff conduct regular counts of sawbill birds and cormorants on the River Spey by canoe.