The first ever UK mainland case of viral haemorrhagic septicaemia (VHS) – a deadly disease to fish, but not humans – was discovered more than two years ago at a fishery in Nidderdale, North Yorkshire, in 2006, and a quarantine was placed on up to 33 fish farms as a result.

More than 250,000 fish were slaughtered as a result of the outbreak.

However, following more than two years of strict checks, the disease has not resurfaced, and all restrictions on fish movement have been lifted.

This is especially important for UK trout stocks because, as Regional CLA director Dorothy Fairburn told the Darlington & Stockton Times (story here):

“Few realised until the outbreak the value and contribution of Yorkshire aquaculture.

The region provides an estimated 50 per cent of all the UK’s re-stocking trout and 20 per cent of trout for the table.”

This is news will surely be a boon for fisheries managers in the area and highlights just how much an outbreak such as this one can threaten not only the businesses concerned, but also fisheries much further afield.

This huge jump in figures is the result of a concerted effort to restock sea trout to the Shetland Isles, following the long period of dramtically low numbers.

SASA secretary Alex Miller told the Shetland News:

“There got to be so few fish around people gave up on it. We had a restocking programme over the last few years when we put thousands of smolts into various areas lochs and burns.

The fish we restocked have obviously grown on, gone to sea and fattened up, then come back again. It is just the cycle of how the fish lives.

We are certainly happy that our restocking programme has been worthwhile. It has been very successful. We have been doing it for four or five years, but obviously it takes the fish a wee while to grow and return to sea.”

Full story at The Shetland News, here

While there are no figures for 2008 yet – Miller expects the number caught to be fewer than 400 – still a sizable catch is expected for this year.

This is yet another successful attempt to restock previously booming fish habitats: Shetland around the war years had been teeming with sea trout. Numbers have fallen as the result of a cumulative effect of a number of factors, including sea lice from fish farms, poaching, and seals. It is quite obvious that much of the problems are human, however, so it is good to see that the attempts to restock are starting to redress that balance.

Unfortunately, as with many similar stories up and down the British Isles, it remains to be seen whether or not stock levels will ever approach what they were in the past.

Watch how he gets on:

Rex Hunt is a man who really loves his fishing!