Merged Data Hides Differences in the Catch Trends of Scottish Salmon

Numbers of salmon returning to Scottish rivers from their marine feeding grounds have fallen overall since at least 1971 [1]. This has led to widespread concerns about the poor state of wild salmon populations around Scotland [2]. These concerns have grown in recent years with [3-5] all showing total annual catches of Atlantic salmon have declined significantly in rivers in the NW Highlands. Recreational rod catch data recorded by Marine Scotland, however, hints at a more complex picture of Scottish salmon which appear to have been relatively stable overall between 1950 and 2010 (Figure 1).