A fishery board has warned anglers to ‘stay vigilant’ after an invasive fish was caught in waters near Moray.
Spey Fisheries Board shared the warning on social media after a local angler caught a male pink salmon at Macallan on the Spey.
The board said that they had discussed the catch with other boards around the country and had determined it was the first recorded capture in Scotland 2024.
The salmon was removed by their biologists for storage and further testing.
Several other sightings of the species have been recorded and anglers are being urged to “stay vigilant”.
Pink salmon are not native to Scotland and are likely to have strayed from some of the rivers in northern Norway or Russia.
On their website, Fisheries Management Scotland said they are working to assess the impact of these non-native fish.
The catch comes after unprecedented numbers of pink salmon were captured in Scotland in 2017.
A similar situation was observed in 2019 and 2021, and in the same years pink salmon were also reported in Norway, Finland, Iceland, Denmark and Germany.
Spey Fisheries Board is urging any fisher who comes across a pink salmon to retain the fish, and report it using the FMS Pink Salmon website and app.
Fisheries Management Scotland has bee contacted for comment.
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