Ness District
Salmon Fishery Board
protection and enhancement of salmon & sea trout fisheries
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Our Goals
What We Do
The Ness District Salmon Fishery Board is a statutory body responsible for the protection and enhancement of salmon and sea trout fisheries in the Ness District. It was constituted under the 1862 and 1868 Salmon Fisheries Legislation, subsequently amended in the Salmon Act 1986 and the Salmon Conservation (Scotland) Act 2001 and more recently amalgamated under the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 2003.
Happening Now
Ness DSFB Annual Report 2024
The Ness DSFB 2024 Annual Report has now been published. The report details the activities of the Ness DSFB during 2024, presents the 2024 salmon, grilse and sea trout catches. Projects and the many challenges facing the Ness catchment are discussed. The Accounts to...
Ness DSFB Annual Public Meeting 2025
The 2025 Annual Public meeting of the Ness DSFB will be held at the Highland Rugby Club, Canal Park Pavilion, Bught Park, Inverness on the evening of the 28th January 2025. This meeting will include a presentation on the activities of the Board over the last year and...
Ness DSFB Annual Proprietors Meeting and Quarterly Board meeting
The 2025 Annual Proprietors meeting and the January 2025 quarterly meeting of the Ness DSFB will be held in the Alan Little Room, Canal Park Pavilion, Bught Park, Inverness on the afternoon of the 23rd January 2025. Click here for link to notification.
Wild NESS Matters
The Ness catchment is is widely recognised for its natural beauty along with the ecological, cultural and historical importance within the Highlands.
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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 nets-men 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
Powers
01
To act, undertake works and incur expenses for the protection and improvement of the fisheries within their districts, for the increase of salmon and sea trout and the stocking of the district with these fish;
02
To impose financial assessments on each salmon fishery in the district, and to charge interest on arrears;
03
To borrow funds, and to incur a wide range of expenditure in furtherance of their powers and duties;
04
To appoint water bailiffs to enforce the salmon fisheries legislation;
05
Exempt persons from certain provisions of the law for scientific or other purposes; and
06
To sue in the name of the clerk.
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Duties
01
To appoint a Clerk;
02
To maintain a list of proprietors within the DSFBs district;
03
To produce an annual report and audited accounts and to consider these at an AGM; and
04
To call a triennial electoral meeting.