Question reference: S6W-25939
- Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 1 March 2024
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Current status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 14 March 2024
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of any impact that piscivorous birds have on the wild salmon population.
Answer
Quantifying the impacts of piscivorous birds on wild salmon populations is challenging as it requires updated information on bird populations, distributions and diet, as well as information on the population dynamics processes of both the birds and fish.
Nevertheless several studies have been commissioned in order to build knowledge of the potential impact of piscivorous birds on wild salmon. Most recently a study to document the diet of fish eating birds on four Scottish rivers was conducted between 2019 and 2020. A final report on the study is available on the Scottish Government website - Bird stomach contents analysis - final report: Goosander and Cormorant diet on four Scottish rivers 2019 to 2020 - gov.scot ( www.gov.scot ).
A separate project funded by the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund has examined acoustic tracking methods that may be useful in identifying those stretches of Scottish rivers where salmon smolt losses occur. This pilot work included a study examining the feasibility of concurrently recording movements of piscivorous birds (goosanders) using Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) tags. A final report on the study will be published in due course.