§ Mr. Colvinasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what information he has as to what action is being taken by water authorities in Scotland to rear fish to meet the restocking requirements of their rivers and waterways.
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§ Mr. John MacKayWater authorities in Scotland are the regional and islands councils. They do not have powers or duties to restock rivers and waterways with fish.
In Scotland district salmon fishery boards have power to stock the waters of their districts with salmon. They are not, however, required statutorily to report their restocking programmes.
The information available for 1983, the latest year for which comprehensive data are available, is that boards released some 12.7 million salmon at various stages of development. In 1985 some 4.3 million were released by 10 boards. This figure should be regarded as a minimum as not all boards made returns.
There are no comparable figures for freshwater fish.