Monday 19th February : Starting this week in Bunclody, Co. Wexford, Ireland at an ART (Assoc. of Rivers Trusts of England and Wales) meeting held in Ireland for a change, to support the launch of the first Irish Rivers Trust, for the R. Slaney (which flows South from the Wicklow Hills to reach the sea at Wexford, in the extreme S.E. corner of Ireland). Today's conference is half about rivers trusts and how to set them up - there is a good turnout of Irish anglers and owners interested in setting up other trusts - and half on biology, but the main topic of conversation is the recent order to close 107 of the 148 salmon rivers of the Republic - including the Slaney. The closed rivers are ones where the stocks of Salmon were reckoned not to be reaching even a 75% probability of meeting their Conservation Limits (the numbers of fish required to fully spawn a river)  or even the 65% probability above which total Catch and Release would have been allowed. It is a huge step and combined with the closure of the drift nets represents a massive effort to get Irish salmon stocks back into order. Interesting to hear the Slaney anglers support the closure of their own river - obviously the feeling was that "something had to be done".  It is notable that in Ireland, like England and Wales, a country with a central government fisheries agency, the need for Rivers Trusts is felt. The plain fact is that no central government body could possibly undertake all the work and management of all the rivers in a country, so local trusts / boards are a necessity if anything much is to happen on the ground.

Tuesday 20th February : The conference field trip this morning, along the Slaney. It is about the size of the Ettrick but flows through very gentle, rich, farmland in this, its middle section - like the lower Tweed on a smaller scale. Despite its lowland nature, it is a Spring Salmon fishery, the fishing starting in March and ending in May without, apparently, a Grilse run to follow. The lack of a later run is blamed by the fishery owner who talks to us on the amount of netting in the estuary - some 25 licences are in operation. Certainly, there ought to be a later run by the look of the river. It has Sea-trout as well, but it is reckoned the nets take most of these. In the afternoon head back to Dublin airport, going early to avoid the jams on the Dublin bypass that everyone warns us about. Back in Edinburgh at 21.00

Wednesday 21st February : Off to Stirling at 08.00 thinking I would just about avoid the jams on the Edinburgh bypass - but get stuck for half an hour and only just get to the meeting on time, at 10.00 . The meeting has been organised by SNH and is chaired by one of the Institute of Aquaculture (IoA) staff and brings together biologists from the Trusts / District Boards where Signal Crayfish have been found (Galloway, Tay, Clyde, Tweed); the Clyde Anglers who have taken about 70,000 crayfish out over the years (and who reckon the quality of trout fishing in the infested area has been reduced by their presence); an Environment Agency expert; an IoA expert on Sea-lice control (another crustacean pest); representatives of SEPA and the Freshwater Laboratory, Faskally and a rep from the British Trout Association representing the aquaculture side. Despite it being 11 years on since Signal Crayfish were first confirmed in the wild in Scotland, this is the first meeting of this type to have been held, and it is very useful indeed. A great deal of information is exchanged and a list of possible control methods that it would be worth investigating is drawn up. Many rude things are said about the various TV chefs who have advertised the "wonders" of Signal Crayfish on their programmes and we hear that, contrary to popular myth, there is only one individual who has ever actually succeeded in making money out of trapping these pests - the fact is that only the very largest individuals of this species are worth eating and there are very few of these in any population. There is, of course, no easy answer, but leave the meeting much more hopeful about this problem than have been before, feeling that, at last, a start has been made.

Thursday 22nd February : Morning in the office, catching up. In the afternoon, to Dunkeld for the AGM of the Scottish Branch of the Institute of Fisheries Management.

Friday 23rd February : On leave.