The Reay Forest Estate has some of the best fishing in the world, and the Salmon caught on the estate’s numerous lochs and burns can be up to 40lbs in weight.

However, because salmon stocks across Scotland have declined in recent years, the estate has put a strict catch and release programme in place. The reasons suggested for the decline are many and various: trawling and drift netting has been blamed; others point the finger at greater predation by seals and to disease emanating from farmed fish which have escaped their cages. In the absence of a definitive answer the estate is investing in new research to solve this major conservation problem.

To boost numbers a salmon hatchery has been run at Achfary for the last 15 years. Fish are caught in the burns and their eggs harvested. These are then removed to the hatchery and the young fish are left to grow in a safe environment. When they are mature enough to survive most predators, the fish are released with care being taken to ensure that they are returned to the same tributary that their eggs came from in order to encourage the highest rates of survival.

The estate supports a number of organisations involved in this work, the key one being the Atlantic Salmon Trust.