The aim of Galloway Rivers Trust is to restore and maintain aquatic health and biodiversity, particularly native fish, in Galloway by means of practical, responsible and sustainable approaches to land, water and fishery management, based on sound science, for the benefit of the community as a whole.
Galloway Rivers Trust (formely Galloway Fisheries Trust) is an environmental charity which was set up in 1988 by four local District Salmon Fishery Boards in the South West of Scotland with common problems and aims. Since then the Trust has expanded and now encompasses a wide range of work which covers most of Dumfries and Galloway's rivers and still waters including the Border Esk.
The core river catchments where we focus our work are: the River Luce, River Bladnoch, River Cree, Water of Fleet, Kirkcudbrightshire Dee, River Urr, Water of App, Piltanton Burn, River Annan and the Border Esk. We work closely with the District Salmon Fishery Boards on these rivers.
The aims of our remit are met by undertaking practical works, education initiatives, focused research projects and delivering key services to member waters and the wider community. Evidence based management underpins this work program. The threats to freshwater ecosystems from climate change is well known and an important priority work stream for GRT is to increase the climate resilience of river systems to climate change impacts such as increased summer temperatures, regular droughts and more extreme floods.
Two important GFT delivery programmes are:
Our work helps to address the biodiversity crisis and promote nature recovery.
The River Luce starts in the hills of southern Ayrshire and makes it way down through New Luce and Glenluce before joining the Solway Firth. Throughout its length it acts as a home to a large variety of aquatic species such as salmon and trout, as well as many invertebrate species.
Galloway River Trust has secured funding from the European Open Rivers Programme for work to remove the Broom Caul. As part of our work to restore the river habitats of the River Annan catchment, the removal of this caul, or weir, has been identified as a priority action.
A paid internship is available from July to December 2026 (26 weeks) to work with Galloway Fisheries Trust supporting various work programmes.