Marine Scotland now use the number of days spent fishing for salmon in deciding the conservation status of the river. Days spent fishing for sea trout or Brown Trout do not count. More information can be found below or at Marine Scotlands web site https://www2.gov.scot/Resource/0054/00544540.pdf
What if I only fish for an hour or so in a day? As above, we are asking that you record rod effort as the number of rods fished each day, summed across the month – regardless of the amount of time actually spent fishing on the day. We recognise this is a simple measure of effort and we may seek to refine these estimates in the future.
What if I don’t catch any fish? in general, effort is a measure of the time spent fishing, even if no salmon are caught, and each day or part days fishing should be recorded as a rod day.
What if there is no fishing for salmon in a month/year? If a catch form is being returned but no fishing for salmon took place in a particular month, zero rod effort should be reported for that month (see example below).
‘Rod days’ refers to fishing by any method. If an angler goes out fishing specifically for sea trout but catches salmon instead, should rod effort be recorded? Yes. While we recognise that in this case the intention was to catch sea trout and not salmon, if any salmon were caught then a rod day should be recorded for salmon.
Non-specific angling (i.e. aiming to catch salmon and sea trout) undertaken should be treated as angling for salmon.