The heatwave is threatening to plunge Scotland’s angling industry into crisis as the water levels of some of the most popular salmon rivers have fallen to drastically low levels after record temperatures and weeks without rain.
The salmon will not swim in to the rivers if the water levels are low. Salmon and sea trout fishing brings tens of millions of pounds a year to rural areas and supports more than 1,000 jobs.
Andrew Douglas-Home, former chairman of the River Tweed Commission, said that salmon fishing had all but ceased on the river. “At a time when salmon numbers in Scotland are low anyway, it is a pretty disastrous situation for everyone connected with the salmon fishing industry,” he said.
Mr Douglas-Home said that it