Armadale Salmon Fishing - How It's Done

Working at a Salmon Station, due to the traditional techniques, remains a very intense and laborious job. Modern equipment makes this a little easier, using tractors, hydraulic winches to make lighter work and throughput, and ice making machines and purpose built chill rooms to ensure the product is stored and preserved appropriately.

Despite the introduction of modern technology, three to four crew are required to operate the fishery on a daily basis.

Generally, the working week starts at 5am on a Monday morning, when the process begins by attaching a "leader" onto the bag net. Work continues throughout the day, changing the bag nets at sea and repairing or cleaning nets on shore. Before finishing for the day, the crew return to sea at around 7pm to fish the nets, land, grade and pack the fish in ice and store them overnight in the chill room.

Regulations & Closed Times

Annual "closed" times for netting varies around the Scottish coast. The earliest we can begin fishing is the 11th February, however, as an active member of The Salmon Net Fishing Association of Scotland and in the best interests of stock conservation, we voluntarily postpone the start of our season. Generally, we operate from 1st April to 26th August.

During the season, weekly closed time for netting is between 6pm on Friday to 6am on Monday. This restriction has been in place for over 20 years.

We are bound by strict regulations imposed by the Scottish Government. Netting is regulated by the Salmon (Definition of Methods of Net Fishing and Construction of Nets) (Scotland) Regulations 1992, as amended in 1993 and 1994. These regulations describe how net and coble and fixed engines may be operated.