News In Focus
20 November 2007
Residents lose ancient fishing rights
The residents of a small Aberdeenshire town have lost a fishing right granted under an ancient royal charter, due to recent law reforms, according to an article in today’s Press & Journal.
Inverbervie residents received the right to fish freely for salmon in the River Bervie when they helped King David II after he was shipwrecked nearby in 1342. Local anglers still jealously guard the right, but now the Dee District Salmon Fisheries Board, which recently bought the fishing rights in order to conserve stocks, wants all fishing administered through the Stonehaven and District Angling Association.
The board's legal advice is that the royal grant cannot stand against modern legislation. It believes that some local people have regarded the charter as a licence to poach.
However some residents, including a former councillor, have vowed not to take the decision lying down.