Salmon fishing rights in Scotland are private heritable titles that are registered separately from land. As such these titles can be bought and sold like any other property.
In Scotland, the cost of the local administration, protection and improvement of the fisheries is privately financed by the proprietors. The district boards finance their work by levying a rate on the salmon fishery owners in the district. Elected representatives of those owners provide the core of the membership of the Board. However, since 1986, the boards are required also to include representatives of salmon anglers and salmon netsmen in the district. A further revision to the constitution of the boards was made in 1999 to allow for even wider representation on the boards by other parties who may have an interest or stake in salmon stocks or fisheries.
The powers and duties of a DSFB are summarised below.
will.levi.marshall@btinternet.com
Chairman: Martin Emkes
Treasurer: Martin Emkes
Board members: Angus Ferguson, J Biggar, Matthew Law (representing Chips Keswick), Martin Emkes, Joe Seed (representing Knockvennie)
Angling Associations: K Irvine (CDAA), W Marshall (DAA)
Angling Representatives: Richard Bellamy (DAA) and James Cunningham (CDAA)
Invitees – Galloway Fisheries Trust
The River Urr Salmon Fishery Management Plan (2023 - 2028) is available to view here
The River Urr River Rules 2024 are available to view here
Date and location of next Board meeting: Urr DSFB meeting 15th October 2024 at 7pm, Corsock Town Hall.
Next AGM: 28th April 2025 at 7:00 pm, Corsock Town Hall.
Salmon season: 15th March – 30th November (no salmon fishing on a Sunday).
All river rules for the Urr can be found in the download section in the document.
If you see diseased, dead or dying fish please report on-line using the following link: https://fms.scot/fish-health-and-disease/
Each spring the GFT organises an afternoon of presentations covering our work over the previous year. The attendees are usually various funders, supporting organisations, key stakeholders and interested parties.
During the summer this year, we undertook a project (commissioned by Scottish Power) examining why in some years at Tongland fish pass there are a larger number of returning adult Atlantic salmon which are heavily infected with Saprolegnia fungus, in comparison to other years.
A summary of the 2018 timed electrofishing surveys for the Urr are provided. These surveys target salmon fry and provide information on annual fluctuations and distribution across 12 sites spread over the catchment.
