Fishery bosses have warned that efforts to save the Atlantic salmon species could stall without extra support for the industry.
The Scottish Government this week published national catch statistics with 47,515 Atlantic salmon and 16,899 sea trout caught during 2019 – a marginal increase from the historic low of the previous year.
However, the totals represent the fourth and third lowest catches respectively since records began in 1952.
Fisheries Management Scotland say the figures show that populations of the fish remain at “crisis point”.
Chief executive Alan Wells has warned that with income to businesses plummeting during the coronavirus lockdown it could harm attempts to repopulate both species at a time organisations are fighting to survive.
He said: “Income to fisheries is currently non-existent which is having a serious impact on our ability to fund crucial conservation and management work.
“Our immediate and pressing short-term priority is ensuring that existing Covid-19 financial support is accessible to the fisheries management sector and that new forms of support are made available in the critical situations where existing schemes don’t apply.
“This is with a view to maintaining the resilience of local fisheries management structures and ensuring continuity of employment for the dedicated and professional members of staff across Scotland.
“Despite the current challenges, our district salmon fishery board enforcement teams continue to operate in many areas in close cooperation with police – and have detected and reported a number of offences in past weeks.”
