SCOTLAND'S anglers say netters are threatening the most vulnerable wild salmon by "tearing up" a long-standing voluntary conservation agreement.
They say the decision not to postpone the start of the netting season by six weeks, as they have done voluntarily for the past 14 years, will affect the early-running spring salmon, the scarcest of all wild stocks.
However, netters, who say they are merely negotiating with fishery boards for compensation, accused the anglers of an ongoing vendetta.
The row began over the move by members of the Salmon Net Fishing Association of Scotland (SNFAS), which represents the majority of netsmen, to vote in favour of starting netting six weeks earlier.
They had previously agreed to voluntarily postpone the start of their season. This meant there had been virtually no legal netting for salmon before April at the earliest.
However, at their annual general meeting in Dunkeld they decided against an automatic blanket postponement, a decision that they are legally entitled to make.
Hughie Campbell Adamson, chairman of the Salmon and Trout Association (Scotland), said: "The intention to start earlier shows the netsmen are determined to kill a proportion of the scarcest, most vulnerable and indeed most valuable of our salmon runs.
"For many years rod interests have given maximum protection to these fish and now virtually none are killed by anglers in the early weeks of the season.
"In fact most rivers operate 100% catch and release until May or even later."
He called for Scottish Ministers to intervene.
However, George Pullar, director of leading netting company Usan Fisheries, near Montrose, said the comments came as no surprise given years of "inexcusable attack" from Mr Campbell Adamson . He said that for the last 14 years many salmon netters had given up a proportion of their income for no return and to the benefit of others.
He added: "By any judgment, this does not smack of people who want to damage the very species from which they derive their livelihoods.
"We are in discussions with several fishery boards regarding refraining from fishing in the early part of the season in return for fair compensation".
He said that, regardless of catch and release, which in itself resulted in the death of a proportion of salmon, angling proprietors could still derive income from their fishing rights from the opening of the season.
He added: "It is therefore only right in these difficult economic times that appropriate compensation should be agreed where one sector loses out by not exercising their legal rights, to the clear advantage of those that continue to do so.
"We are not alone in this view; the Association of Salmon Fishery Boards also advocates payment of fair compensation in exchange for refraining from netting. The reality is this industry supports many rural families and is far from the preserve of the wealthy."
Thousands used to work for netters round the Scottish coast, but with the advent of the fish farming in the 1970s heralding cheaper salmon there has been a sharp decline in netting.
The Pullar family's Usan business operates several netting stations along the Angus Coast from Montrose to Arbroath as well as Murkle/Castlehill on the north coast of Caithness and Gardenstown in the Moray Firth.
In 2012 netting operations caught 41.7% of the annual Scotland retained or landed slamon catch and 15.9% of the total catch - those landed and those released combined.
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said it "recognised the significant support shown by anglers for voluntary action to protect vulnerable early stock components including catch and release and the Salmon Net Fishing Association's six-week delay to the start of the net fishing season.
She added: "We support these voluntary measures, and have encouraged both the Salmon Net Fishing Association and the District Salmon Fishery Boards to enter into early local discussions to agree a proportionate and pragmatic way forward."
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