Alastair Stephen is SSE Fisheries Biologist so we’ve asked him to explain how we help salmon make their way up our rivers.
Anyone like me fortunate to spend time on Scotland’s rivers will have begun to notice the distinctive splashing sound of leaping salmon as they make their way upstream to spawn.
It’s a sign that summer is here and it’s a natural phenomenon that is as regular as clockwork. It all hinges on the temperature in our rivers reaching 6 or 7°C which is warm enough to spur the cold blooded salmon into action. Once that happens the great swim begins and of course we at SSE have a major role to play in helping them.
In fact our duty of care to fish dates back to 1943. The Act of Parliament which established our company stated: ‘the Board should have regard to avoiding as far as possible, injury to fisheries and to the stock of fish in any waters.’ That’s still our guiding ethos today – 73 years on.
So what’s happening this year? Well first up I can report that we’ve had a lot of big fish passing through the salmon ladder at Pitlochry which is encouraging. The recent spell of dry weather has also meant we’ve been able to film some of those fish passing through in good clear waters.
There is a new Visitor Centre under construction at Pitlochry dam and part of the display will focus on providing stunning footage of the salmon migration. Visitors might enjoy such a film as an alternative to crossing the dam and looking into the viewing chamber – something that’s been incredibly popular for over 60 years.
Of course our responsibilities don’t end once the salmon have made it up to the top of the rivers. We invest a great deal of resource in tracking the journey the young ‘smolts’ [newly hatched salmon] make out to sea and how they cope with navigating their way through SSE’s hydro assets.
To that end we have been fitting the smolts with ‘PIT tags’ which are like bar codes so we can track the progress of individual fish. This work is ongoing at the River Meig as well as Kyle of Sutherland and is conducted in partnership with the Fisheries Board, SEPA and other experts.
And finally, we recently announced the financial go-ahead for Beatrice offshore wind farm alongside our Joint Venture partners. As a responsible developer and in tandem with the researchers from the University of Glasgow, we are using acoustic tracking in the Cromarty and Moray Firths to monitor the effects of construction of the project on migratory salmon.
Rivers belong to everyone and although we use this natural resource to make energy for our customers it is incumbent on SSE to minimise any obstructions the fish might face. That’s something we’ve been doing for generations and we will continue to do so for as long as we remain custodians of these beautiful Scottish rivers.