Salmon fishing rights in Scotland are private heritable titles that are registered separately from land. As such these titles can be bought and sold like any other property.
In Scotland, the cost of the local administration, protection and improvement of the fisheries is privately financed by the proprietors. The district boards finance their work by levying a rate on the salmon fishery owners in the district. Elected representatives of those owners provide the core of the membership of the Board. However, since 1986, the boards are required also to include representatives of salmon anglers and salmon netsmen in the district. A further revision to the constitution of the Boards was made in 1999 to allow for even wider representation on the boards by other parties who may have an interest or stake in salmon stocks or fisheries.
The powers and duties of a DSFB are summarised below.
Adam Turnbull
Gillespie Gifford & Brown LLP
27 St Cuthbert Street
Kirkcudbright
DG6 4DJ
Ken Scott (deewaterbailiff@gmail.com)
Chairman – James Ingall
Treasurer – Bell Ogilvy, 36 King Street, Castle Douglas DG7 1AF
Legal advisor – Adam Turnbull, Gillespie Gifford & Brown LLP, 27 St Cuthbert Street, Kirkcudbright DG6 4DJ
Upper Proprietors – James Ingall, Richard Agnew, The Lord Sinclair, Fiona McCulloch
Lower Proprietors – Martin McGhie (for Drax Group), Richard Agnew (for Crown Estates)
Other reps - Mark Trueman (Dalry Angling Association), Jamie Ribbens (Galloway Fisheries Trust)
AGM will be held 3pm on 11th April 2025 at Crossmichael Village Hall, Crossmichael, Castle Douglas. If you wish to attend please contact the clerk to the Board on adam.turnbull@ggblaw.co.uk The meeting is open to the public.
Salmon season: 11th February – 31st October (no salmon fishing on a Sunday)
The Kirkcudbrightshire Dee has been designated as a Category 3 river under the Salmon Conservation Regulations. This means the killing of salmon is considered unsustainable. Compulsory catch and release of all rod caught salmon is required and contravention of the regulations will be a criminal offence. This categorisation is reviewed annually.
The DDSFB takes stock conservation very seriously, the low numbers of Salmon and Sea Trout make taking action to both reduce impact on the stocks through angling policy/guidelines and enhance stocks through habitat improvements and restocking efforts essential. The board hopes that anglers will see these measures as a way to ensure the continuation and enhancement of their angling experience. Through good management, responsible angling behaviour, stock enhancement through hatchery production and habitat enhancement we can help ensure the future of the Dee Salmon and Sea Trout fishery.
The DDSFB requests that anglers:
Last week the Scottish Ministers laid regulations in the Scottish Parliament setting out the provisions to regulate killing salmon in Scottish waters for the 2019 fishing season.
Each spring the GFT organises an afternoon of presentations covering our work over the previous year. The attendees are usually various funders, supporting organisations, key stakeholders and interested parties.
During the summer this year, we undertook a project (commissioned by Scottish Power) examining why in some years at Tongland fish pass there are a larger number of returning adult Atlantic salmon which are heavily infected with Saprolegnia fungus, in comparison to other years.
