Right or written permission to fish for salmon in Scotland: methods and close times
What a business that fishes for salmon, lets fishing or guides anglers in Scotland must have under the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 2003, which fishing methods and close times apply, and the penalties.
Scotland does not issue a national licence for salmon fishing in the way the Environment Agency does in England and Wales. The Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 2003 works the other way round: salmon fishing is a right held by a proprietor, and it is an offence to fish for or take salmon without a legal right, or without written permission from a person who has that right (section 6). That applies in rivers and lochs and in the sea within 1.5 kilometres of mean low water springs. In the Act, “salmon” includes sea trout (migratory brown trout) as well as Atlantic salmon (section 69).
For a business this means three things. If you own or lease a fishery, you hold the right and can give permission. If you run angling breaks, guiding, tuition or a tackle-and-permit business on someone else's water, you need their written permission, and so do your clients. If you use any method other than those the Act allows, permission does not help you.
- Statutory source
- Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 2003 (asp 15), as amended
- What you need
- A legal right to fish, or written permission from its holder (section 6)
- Who enforces
- District salmon fishery boards, together with the police
- Permitted methods (inland waters)
- Rod and line, or net and coble (section 1)
- Permitted methods (district coastal waters)
- Rod and line, net and coble, or a bag net, fly net or other stake net (section 1(2))
- Weekly close time
- 6pm Friday to 6am Monday, and no salmon fishing at all on Sunday (section 13)
- Annual close time
- A continuous period of at least 168 days, set for each district (sections 14 and 37)
- Penalty for fishing without right or permission
- Fine up to level 3 on the standard scale (section 6)
- Penalty for a prohibited method or fishing in close time
- Fine up to level 4 on the standard scale, which is £2,500 (sections 1, 13 and 14)
- Explosives, poison or electrical devices
- Statutory maximum fine or up to 3 months in prison, or both, on summary conviction (section 5)
- Acting together
- Each person faces the statutory maximum or up to 3 months in prison on summary conviction (section 7)
There is no licence to apply for from a regulator. Salmon fishing depends on a legal right to fish, or written permission from the person who holds it (section 6). Enforcement is by district salmon fishery boards, which can appoint water bailiffs, together with the police. Scottish Government policy sits with its salmon and recreational fisheries team. The River Tweed has its own legislation and commission.
Inland, a cruive is permitted only where the right existed before 10 May 1951. In the Solway, a certificated fixed engine is permitted, or a haaf net where the right existed before 10 May 1951 (section 1). Rod and line is allowed on Friday, Saturday and Monday within the weekly close time. The annual close time is set for each district by order or regulations, and rod-and-line fishing may be allowed for parts of it (sections 14 and 37).
On indictment, the explosives, poison or electrical devices offence carries a fine or up to 2 years in prison (section 5). Two or more people acting together in an offence under section 1, 2 or 6 are each liable to up to 2 years in prison on indictment (section 7).
What you must do
- Establish who holds the right. Find out who owns the salmon fishing on the stretch you use, whether that is an estate, a club, a syndicate or a company. Do not assume that owning the riverbank or a nearby property gives you the right.
- Get permission in writing. Section 6 asks for written permission. Keep it with you when you fish or guide, because water bailiffs and police can ask to see it. Record the stretch, the dates and who is covered, and get a fresh letter for each season.
- Use only a permitted method. Fishing for salmon inland other than by rod and line or net and coble is an offence unless a listed exception applies. A person fishing from the bank for salmon must use a single rod and hold it. From a boat, no more than four rods may be used on the boat at any one time (section 3A). Live vertebrates, fish roe, fire and light cannot be used as bait or lure (section 4).
- Respect the close times. Nobody may fish for or take salmon on a Sunday or during the annual close time for the district, apart from the rod-and-line periods the district rules allow. A proprietor or occupier must remove boats, nets and tackle used for taking salmon within 36 hours of the annual close time starting, apart from boats and oars used for angling (section 15). It is an offence to buy, sell, expose for sale or possess salmon taken in the close time, unless it was caught lawfully (section 16).
- Check the conservation rules for your river before each season. The Conservation of Salmon (Scotland) Regulations 2016 (SSI 2016/115) ban retaining salmon caught in the coastal waters of a salmon fishery district and in the inland waters listed in Schedule 2. Anyone who catches such a fish must return it at once with the least possible injury. Schedule 2 is changed by amending regulations regularly, and the Scottish Government publishes river gradings of good, moderate or poor conservation status; the 2026 season gradings were made by SSI 2025/390. The 2016 Regulations define salmon as Atlantic salmon only, so the retention ban does not cover sea trout. The ban has limited exceptions, including scientific permissions and fish held in fish farms.
- Make sure your staff and clients know the rules. A guide or ghillie who lets a client keep a fish that must be returned, or who lets someone fish without written permission, is exposed to the offences above and to the acting-together offence.
Changes coming
The Natural Environment (Scotland) Act 2026 received Royal Assent on 12 March 2026. Section 43 will raise the penalties for several of these offences, including fishing for salmon without right or permission where a salmon is taken, and the prohibited-methods offence, to a fine of up to the statutory maximum for each salmon taken. Section 43 had not been brought into force when this was checked on 30 September 2026, because the Scottish Ministers must appoint a start date by regulations. Until they do, the penalties in the table above apply.