Salmon fishing: proposed river gradings for 2026 season
Seeking your views on the proposed river gradings for the 2026 salmon fishing season. Submit your views by 7 September 2025.
Closed
This consultation closed 7 September 2025.
View this consultation on consult.gov.scot, including responses once published.
Consultation analysis
Changes from the 2025 assessment
The assessment for the 2026 season has followed the methodology developed in previous years. No new rivers or groups have been added for this year’s assessment
While the methodology has not changed for the 2026 season, the assessment has been made using the most up to date data available from fish counters and catch returns from the 2024 fishing season. Both the 2020 and 2021 fishing seasons were affected by the restrictions imposed by the pandemic which inevitably led to a reduction in “rod-effort” and the numbers of fish caught.
Although it is not possible to fully account for the complexity of the pandemic and its impact on rod fishing, local information was used to develop methods which allow its impact to be accounted for in stock assessments for each river or group of rivers. This ensures that the outcomes of the assessment are based on the best available information. We published a paper on methods of accounting for the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on adult salmon stock estimates in Scotland in 2021.