Brilliant Victory for Salmon in a European Court!

Dear Friends of the Salmon (and all other migrating species),


Wednesday, February 8 was the verdict of the highest court in the Netherlands (The 'Council of the State' in The Hague) in the lawsuit of Sportfishing Netherlands and the Meuse Angling Club (VVM) against the minister of Waterways (Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment) about the license given by this ministery for the construction of an hydro power station in the Meuse at Borgharen (Maastricht).


And we have won this appeal case!


We had already won the case in the Court of Maastricht, last year.


But both the firm who wanted to build the hydro power plant and the sportfishing organisations appealed. We appealed because we had lost on some important points like the wrong implementation of the European Water Framework Directive and the Benelux treaty on migrating fish species of 2009.


The minister of Waterways reluctantly followed after the parliament applied some pressure to appeal and uphold the license.


In the verdict of February 8, the Council of the State upholds the earlier verdict of the Court of Maastricht that nullified the license given by the minstry of waterways for the construction of the hydro power station. The council agreed with the Maastricht court that the mortality caused by the two existing hydro power plants in the Meuse River is already too high, so there is no room for a third hydro power station. But the Council of the State added some new arguments.


We won the point that the ministry should have made an Environmental Impact Report to weigh the (enormous) damage caused to the fish populations by the hydro power station against the production of (very little) renewable energy. The ministry should at least have proven that such an Environmental Impact Report was not necessary. They did not succeed in convincing the council of that.


The Council of the State found that especially recent research on the delayed mortality of salmon smolts and silver eels was not taken into the account.


Another important argument that the Council of the State added, was the fact that the European Water Framework Directive was not implemented in the right way. Especially they did not sufficiently examine if the quality of the Meuse River deteriorated in such a way that it did not stay within the class where this water is now attributed to.


The arguments of Sportfishing Netherlands and the Meuse Angling Club were very well supported by two scientific reports. One by Dr. Jörg Schneider from Germany and one by two equally brilliant fish scientists from Belgium (Ovidio and Philippart).


As our lawyer noted: "By this verdict water is no longer a free-for-all and beyond the law"


She thought this was an important victory.


We lost the point of the bad implementation of the Benelux Treaty on Migrating Fish Species, but we are still considering to bring this point to the European Court. Because a non-functional fish guidance system and a less effective fish ladder can not be considered as 'mitigating' or 'compensating' measures as meant by the Benelux Treaty!





With kind regards,

Teaching on the Findhorn

I had a great day on the Findhorn, teaching the guys and girls from the Forres Angling Association, It’s amazing where the time goes, I started doing this with the late Jimmy Sutherland, one of life’s real fishing characters, back in the early 1990s. This year’s event was attended by more than 40 people, from total beginners to seasoned rods, something I know would have put a smile on the face of Jimmy, and, is also a great credit to the organisers. This is a free day with those attending getting advice on fishing, casting and tackle from myself and other members of the club. The club in fact organises three days, normally three Sundays prior to the opening of the fishing season, and is now attracting people from well outside the area. This lovely piece of fly water is accessible to visitors at a very reasonable price throughout the entire season which runs from 11th Feb – 30th Sept .

New Scottish Fishing Season

With three of the big four rivers now open, the 2012 season in Scotland, again, is off to a fairly decent start with some lovely fish coming off the Tay system over the past two weeks, and today, [1st of Feb] the Dee and Tweed systems have opened with some lovely fish in the 2 and 3 sea winter class. For any serious salmon angler, those very early fish are the ultimate prize, showing the king of fish in their best condition and a pleasure to behold.

Conditions across Scotland today have been cold, with most rivers slightly lower than most Ghillies would like to see at this time of the year, but for most anglers this matters nothing at all as the first day of the new season is as much about being there and taking part rather than catching the ultimate prize. Mind you, to be one of the lucky ones represents the icing on the cake.

Although those large rivers tend to grab the headlines, they are not the only rivers in Scotland to be opening today; a good friend of mine, Mr Paul Davidson, equipped with his new Hardy Sintrix, Zenith 14’6” and Ultralite Reel, landed the first fish of the new season on Beat 2 of Cambusmore on the River Teith, another extremely productive, if less known Scottish river.

Although not breaking any records, the 1st of Feb 2012, never the less, will be remembered by those fishing as being a lovely day to have been on the river, with clear water and lovely overhead conditions for fly-fishing.
More fishing availabilty can be found here.



Paul Davidson with the first fish of 2012 from the River Teith.