TALES FROM THE RIVERBANK
I am told, one of the original casts of Georgina Ballantine’s British record 64lb salmon in the bar), the agents, CKD Galbraith, are hardly being inundated with interest. The reason this historic landmark is lying
Cash is slipping through the net
Angling adds millions to the economy, but far more could be done to ensure local people benefit
WORDS JON GIBB
concluded that freshwater angling adds over £112 million to the Scottish economy every year and supports up to 2,800 jobs in some of the most fragile rural areas of the country. Over £50 million of wages from angling-related busi- nesses are paid into rural households, the vast majority in remote parts of the Highlands. But with another economic assessment of
F
angling recently announced by Scottish Natural Heritage, a review of freshwater fisheries currently being undertaken by the Scottish Government and a Land Reform Bill just around the corner, exactly where anglers spend these millions has been attracting attention. While the success of website booking services
such as
www.rodsonrivers.com and www.
fishpal.com clearly demonstrate that there is a wealth of angling opportunities out there, the economic rewards of some of the best fishing in the world do not always filter through to local communities. Take recent events in the Sutherland village
of Helmsdale, for example. You would have thought that with some of the best salmon runs in decades in this part of the country local businesses which rely on visiting anglers would be booming. Not so at the Bridge Hotel in Helmsdale. Once a mecca for salmon fisher- men, the hotel was put on the market in 2008 at a price of £1.25 million. There were no takers. It has recently been put back up for sale at less than half the asking price. And in spite of extensive modernisation over the years (and,
FIELD
ishing for trout, salmon and sea trout in Scotland is big business. A study in 2001 by Glasgow Caledonian University
‘Two brand new Orkney Longliners now clink against the pier, waiting for word to catch on in angling circles’
empty seems simple: fishing on the Helmsdale is controlled by the Helmsdale River Board and, with the exception of a small association stretch, to fish on one of its six exclusive two-rod upstream beats you must also rent one of the owners’ shooting lodges in the strath. Clearly, this is well beyond the budget of the average holiday angler. So although opportunities for angling on the river are immense, the potential economic benefit is being limited by a reduced number of available rods coupled with over- burdensome exclusivity. Strangely, though, I recently came across the
very opposite situation at the other side of the country, on the West Coast, in an area where decimated salmon and sea trout stocks might make you think that opening a fishing hotel could only be for the foolhardy or the insane. Once a thriving Highland fishing business,
the Loch Shiel Hotel (www.lochshielhotel. com) went into rapid decline as the sea trout disappeared from the River Shiel back in the early 1990s. It has had a succession of disillu- sioned proprietors ever since, most of whom have had little interest in attracting fishermen. But just last year a local couple, Andrew and
Katherine Maclean spotted an opportunity. Over the past few seasons, while salmon and sea trout have been making a slow comeback to Loch Shiel, trout of enormous proportions have been recorded throughout the 18-mile length of the loch. Last summer I heard of at least two trout of over 15lbs taken by local rods. The loch is now one of the best – and
relatively unknown – trout destinations in the country. Two brand new Orkney Longliners now clink against the hotel pier, waiting for word to catch on in angling circles, and local ghillies have been engaged once again to take to the oars among the loch’s bays and skerries. I predict that it won’t be long before parties of dedicated anglers will once again be crowding the famous Loch Shiel Hotel bar. And the simple reason that the economic
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benefit from this welcome upturn in angling fortunes is being felt locally is that the riparian owners in the Shiel catchment have had the foresight to make all fishing opportunities available at very reasonable prices to visiting anglers and, importantly, with no rigid require- ment to stay in estate cottages or lodges. While the phrase ‘community empowerment’ has become fairly tired and abused in the Highlands in recent years, this is surely an example of the very best of the concept in action.
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