DOI: 10.7489/12539-1
title: Rod fishery statistics: salmon 2011 to 2024, sea trout 2017 to 2024 - reported catch by Stock Assessment Area

description: Reported rod catches of salmon, from the 2011 to 2024 seasons, and sea trout, from the 2017 to 2024 seasons, are provided by Stock Assessment Area and month. Statistical Salmon Fishery District and regional catch data are available within the time series: “Salmon and Sea Trout fishery statistics: 1952 - 2024 - reported catch and effort by method”{https://dx.doi.org/10.7489/12538-1}.

The 2011 to 2016 season salmon rod catch data by Stock Assessment Area, was collected at Statistical Salmon Fishery District level and split into stock assessment areas retrospectively by the data providers, where possible. Sea trout data from 2011 to 2016 was not split into stock assessment areas and are therefore, not included. The 2017 to 2024 season salmon and sea trout rod catch data are the summations of reports from individual fisheries. Stock Assessment Area data is not comparable with Statistical Salmon Fishery District data. This is because:
{insert bullet} not all fisheries in a District are in a Stock Assessed Area
{insert bullet} only assessed Stock Assessment Areas are included. (Some Stock Assessment Areas have insufficient data to allow an assessment to be completed.)
{insert bullet} any reports of salmon caught and released out of season are not used in assessing stocks, and are not included in this dataset.
{insert bullet} where fish counter data is used in the stock assessment, the assessment uses catch from upstream of the counter only. Any reports of catch from downstream of fish counters in those areas are not used in assessing stocks, and are not included in this dataset.

Retained salmon, retained sea trout, and caught and released sea trout are included in the dataset though not used in the stock assessment. However, this does not include catch from below fish counters.

No attempt has been made to correct for non-returns or incomplete information held in the register of fishery contacts.

Stock Assessment Areas included in this time series are those where the conservation status of salmon stocks are assessed for the Conservation of Salmon (Scotland) Regulations 2016 and the data will be used in the conservation assessment for the 2026 season river gradings. Assessment Areas are individual rivers draining to the coast, except for those areas where fishery catch cannot be assigned to individual rivers. In such cases, rivers are combined to form geographically-coherent groups of rivers.

A list of Stock Assessment Areas with their corresponding Salmon Fishery District and Salmon Fishery Region is available to download below.

Marine Scotland has published a summary of the "2024 Official Statistics for the time series (1952 to 2024) for salmon and sea trout”{https://www.gov.scot/isbn/9781836914761}. Time series data, by District, are available from "Marine Scotland Data"{https://dx.doi.org/10.7489/12538-1} and summary data are available from our data visualisation application, accessible from the related content section below.
description: Catch data is collected annually at the end of each season from salmon fishery proprietors, occupiers or their agents.