FACT: Some fishermen are prepared to spend hundreds of pounds a day to catch a salmon.How much is salmon fishing worth to Scotland?
The Scottish Government undertook a survey in 2003. In this year it was estimated
that anglers fishing for salmon and sea trout spent over £73 million.
For detailed information about how much fishing is worth in Scotland you can
click
here.
FACT: The largest salmon on record caught by fishing rod in the UK was caught on the River Tay. It was caught by Miss Georgina Ballantyne and weighed a massive 64lb!How high do salmon jump?
Sometimes, for a salmon to get back to the area of river where it was born, it has to jump over a waterfall. Sometimes it will take a salmon a whole day of trying to jump a waterfall before is it successful. In Scotland, the highest jump a salmon has been known to make is at the Orrin Falls in Rosshire. Here, the height the salmon has to jump to get over the vertical falls is 3.7 metres! Most salmon can be seen trying to jump at waterfalls in autumn time.
QUESTION: Have you ever seen a salmon jumping at a waterfall?How many eggs can a salmon deposit?
Usually we measure the weight of a salmon in pounds (lbs). One kilogram in
weight is the equivalent of 2.2 pounds. Atlantic salmon can usually produce
between 450 and 700 eggs per pound of body weight. This means that if a female
salmon weighs 10lbs she could produce up to 7000 eggs!
FACT: Adult salmon stop feeding when they come back to the river - sometimes for over a year!What is the importance of water temperature in the early part of the salmon lifecycle?
After being laid, salmon eggs will take 440° days to hatch. This means if the water in the river they are laid in is at a constant 1°C, they will take 440 days to hatch. When you have salmon in a tank in your classroom it is important not to let the temperature of the water become warmer than 10°C because it can kill them.