The River Tay and those of its tributaries which are accessible to adult salmon (but not including the River Earn) has been designated an EU Special Area of Conservation for Atlantic salmon, otters and lampreys.
This status places a requirement under the EU Habitats Directive 1992 for member states to maintain the species of interest and its habitat at something called "favourable conservation status" - i.e. the conservation status of the species concerned should not deteriorate after a site has been designated.
In order to determine whether favourable conservation status is being maintained member states have a requirement for periodic monitoring of the populations of interest. This is known as site condition monitoring.
As part of this process an extensive survey of juvenile salmon was undertaken in 2005 on the Tay and other SAC rivers (report available here). The Tay came out favourably in that survey.
It seems likely that a subsequent survey will be commissioned by Scottish Natural Heritage in 2011. The Tay Foundation hopes to conduct the survey within the Tay district.
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