River Dee seal-deterrent project receives £160,000 funding

New funding to protect salmon on the River Dee

The University of St Andrews has secured £160,000 from Scottish Government’s Marine Fund Scotland to develop technology aimed at protecting critically endangered salmon on the River Dee from seal predation.

The Sea Mammal Research Unit (SMRU) at the university will work with the Dee District Salmon Fishery Board to develop a “detect and deter” system for the lower river. The project will focus on creating sonar technology capable of spanning wider rivers like the Dee, building on a prototype system tested on the River North Esk.

Promising prototype results

Dr Carol Sparling, director of SMRU, said: “The prototype system has been used in the River North Esk and results so far have been promising. We are hopeful we can now adapt the prototype system to protect salmon from seal predation within larger rivers.”

Lawrence Ross, chair of the Dee DSFB, said grey and harbour seals are entering the river regularly and eating salmon in significant numbers, preventing fish from reaching their spawning grounds. “We are in a race against time to save our threatened salmon,” he said.

The new system follows unsuccessful attempts to tackle seal predation using disturbance technology and jet ski operations to move seals downstream.