Scottish salmon no-retain rules updated for April 2026

From 1 April 2026, parts of Scotland will be catch‑and‑release only for Atlantic salmon. The Scottish Government has signed the Conservation of Salmon (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2025 (SSI 2025/390), laid before the Scottish Parliament on 8 December 2025 and signed on 4 December by Rural Affairs Secretary Mairi Gougeon, according to legislation.gov.uk. The Regulations replace schedule 2 of the 2016 rules to set where you cannot retain any salmon you catch.

When you see “no‑retain”, read it as catch and release. You may fish, but if a salmon takes your fly, lure or bait, you must return it promptly and carefully. This tool is used where conservation status is poor or uncertain so that breeding fish get back to the river. It applies to recreational and commercial fishing in the listed inland waters.

What changes on the map is how “inland waters” are described. Instead of naming only rivers, schedule 2 draws boundaries along the coast using two fixed points and then sweeps in the rivers, burns and lochs that drain between them. Many entries also add nearby islands and use phrases like “to the mid‑line of the Sound of Mull” or “for 5 kilometres seaward” to set a clear outer edge.

A quick glossary to help you read the legal text. “Outflow limits” are the two coastal points that bracket a stretch of shoreline; every inland water draining between them is covered unless specifically excluded. “Mid‑line” means an imaginary line down the centre of a sea loch or sound, used to mark how far coverage extends. Where you see “but excluding…”, named rivers are taken out of the no‑retain rule for that entry.

Those coastal points are given as Ordnance Survey (OS) grid references, such as NR 7600 9892 at Craignish Point. The two letters (NR) identify a 100 km square. The first set of numbers is the easting; the second is the northing. With four digits in each group (like 7600 9892), you can pinpoint a location to about 10 metres. On OS maps or the OS Maps app, type the letters and numbers to see the exact spot.

Try this example from the schedule. One entry runs from Rubh’ an Lionaidh at Craignish Point (NR 7600 9892) south to Point of Knap (NR 6997 7202). In plain English: the Argyll coast facing the Sound of Jura is bracketed between those headlands. All rivers and lochs that drain between them are no‑retain, and any islands inside that slice of sea up to the sound’s mid‑line are included.

Another example helps you see how exclusions work. The Cromarty Firth entry runs from Balconie Point (NH 6255 6528) to the slipway at Nigg Ferry (NH 7965 6875) and covers islands out to the firth’s mid‑line, but it explicitly excludes the Alness River at NH 6586 6803. So if you fish an inland water that drains to that excluded outflow point, the blanket no‑retain for that entry does not apply.

Sea lochs often use ferry piers or headlands as anchors. Around Inverness, the schedule draws a line between the Kessock Ferry piers (NH 6553 4724 to NH 6558 4786), then describes which side of that line counts as inland waters for the no‑retain rule. On Loch Linnhe, entries use the Corran Ferry jetties and nearby headlands, and one exclusion removes the River Leven (Inverness‑shire) at NH 1814 6214 from that particular sweep.

Some stretches extend “for 5 kilometres seaward”. Around Cape Wrath, for instance, the schedule covers the coast from the Cave of Smoo (NC 4188 6717) to Cape Wrath (NC 2575 7494) but excludes the Daill River, the Grudie River and the River Dionard, each named with its own grid reference. Read that as a coastal bracket with precise carve‑outs for those river systems.

What this means for you on the bank. If your inland water sits within one of the coastal brackets and is not in the “but excluding” list, any salmon you catch must go back. Bailiffs may check compliance, and offences are created under the 2003 Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act. Keep a simple record of date, location and release to support good practice.

Good release matters. Keep fish in the water, use a knotless net, unhook quickly, and consider barbless or de‑barbed hooks. Cold, well‑oxygenated pools are kinder than warm shallows for recovery. Local fisheries boards and Marine Scotland issue guidance that complements the legal duty set by these Regulations.

For classrooms and study groups, this is a useful mapping exercise. Students can match the legal description to an OS map, trace the two outflow points, sketch the mid‑line of a sea loch and shade the inland waters that drain between. It’s a hands‑on way to see how law translates into geography-and why clear coordinates matter in conservation.

Timeline and what changed. The Regulations were made on 4 December 2025, laid on 8 December 2025, and take effect on 1 April 2026. They substitute schedule 2 of the 2016 Regulations and note updates to paragraphs 7, 21, 22, 34, 37, 61 and 76. For the definitive wording, always check the entry on legislation.gov.uk (SSI 2025/390) alongside the base rules in SSI 2016/115 and its later amendments, including SSI 2024/368.

If you only remember three steps, remember these. Find the two coastal grid references that bracket your area, look for any “but excluding” river names, and check whether the text mentions a mid‑line or “5 kilometres seaward”. If your inland water sits inside that description-and isn’t excluded-it’s catch and release for salmon from 1 April 2026. Plan your season with that in mind.