On Friday, 17th September 2021, Dr. David Summers, the Fisheries Director of the Tay District Salmon Fisheries Board presented his talk which encompassed the life cycle of the salmon, the drastic reduction in salmon numbers and current scientific research studies. He provided an overview of the status of the River Tay’s salmon population and fisheries, with an emphasis on how things compare with the past and what the future might hold.
Dr. David Summers is the Fisheries Director of the Tay District Salmon Fisheries Board and has over 30 years’ experience in the field of salmon and freshwater fisheries research and management.
On Friday, 17th September he opened our 2021-22 winter season of talks with a talk on talk entitled ‘Salmon and Salmon Fishing in the River Tay: Past, Present and Future’. Due to on-going Covid restrictions, we weren’t allowed to hold this talk ‘in person’ in our normal venue of the Breadalbane Community Campus in Aberfeldy, and presented it online on Zoom instead. 36 people registered for, and attended, this talk, of which 12 were non-members of our Society.
David’s talk encompassed the life cycle of the salmon, the drastic reduction in salmon numbers, current scientific research studies and findings, and local socio-economic benefits. David provided an overview of the status of the River Tay’s salmon population and fisheries, with an emphasis on how things compare with the past and what the future might hold. Particular emphasis was placed on issues local to the Breadalbane area such as hydro development.
Two versions of the recording of the talk are available to view. The first is approximately one hour long and contains just the talk. The second includes an additional subsequent 30-minute Q&A session providing further supplementary information. Both of these videos can be viewed below:
Full Talk with the Q&A session (90 minutes):
Only the talk (60 minutes):
If you wish to view these videos at a larger size, click on the ‘full screen’ button at the bottom right-hand corner of the images above:
After 18 months of Covid restrictions with all our 2020-21 winter programme of talks having been presented online by Zoom, we were hopeful that we would be able to present our new season of winter talks commencing in September 2021 ‘in person’ in our regular venue, the Breadalbane Community Campus in Aberfeldy. However, we were informed that public use of the main hall in the Breadalbane Campus complex would only be possible from the beginning of October. Consequently, our first winter talk on the 17th September was presented online using Zoom, but we were able to return to the Breadalbane Campus for our October talk. We are hopeful that the November and March talks will also still be able to take place in the Breadalbane Campus.
Taking into consideration the likelihood of adverse winter weather during the months of January and February making travel difficult and from comments and suggestions from our members that they are unwilling to venture out on cold, wet winter evenings, we have decided for this season to present the January and February talks online by Zoom. As we hold the talks on the third Friday of the winter months, there is not a talk in December as it would come very close to Christmas. Joining details for each Zoom meeting will be provided prior to each talk.
Friday 17th September 2021: Dr. David Summers – ‘The Atlantic Salmon’ (by Zoom)
Friday 15th October 2021: Rob Hands – ‘Battles of the Three Muirs’
Friday 19th November 2021: Dr. Liz Auty – ‘The Attraction of Mountains, Schiehallion, ‘Weighing’ the World and Contour Lines’
Friday 21st January 2022: John Borland – ‘The Early Medieval Sculpture of Highland Perthshire’ (by Zoom)
Friday 18th February 2022: Dr. Nicki Scott: ‘Ancient Magnificence: Arbroath Abbey and beyond’ (by Zoom)
Friday 18th March 2022: Annette Carruthers: ‘James MacLaren and the Arts and Crafts Movement’
In association with the programme of winter talks, we also run a short season of half and full-day excursions from late May to mid-July, ideally to locations referred to in some of the winter talks.
Amongst the locations we are currently considering are:
In addition, we are considering a three or four-day trip to Angus in late-August to visit a number of HES and other sites, some of which will be referred to in John Borland’s January talk and included in Dr. Nicki Scott’s February talk.
These are our preliminary excursion proposals and may be subject to change. Further details will be confirmed early next year.
Refer to the Events page for further information on the forthcoming season of Winter Talks.
Breadalbane Heritage Society 
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