Fighting the market for illegal salmon

Tweed bailiffs checked approximately 75% of Fishery Record Books over the system through the 2015 season, and two other minor cases were dealt with by warning and formal letters.

Bailiffs also managed to break down the market chain for illegally-caught salmon which was being sold at London markets and then on to high-end restaurants.

“The development of a collaborative approach with other agencies, both in England and Scotland and adjacent District Salmon Fishery Boards, was instrumental in disrupting that organised crime,” says their annual report.

Bailiff patrols saw 21 illegal nets recovered from the Lower Tweed and tributaries.