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Salmon Restocking Program
The Cromarty Firth Fisheries Board assisted by the Novar Fishings Partnership operate a broodstock and hatchery program to help supplement salmon stocks on the River Alness and compensate for rod catches.
This program has a number of components:
1. Broodstock Fishing/’Catch-up’
 In mid-November, a team of volunteers set about catching the broodstock through fly fishing. The target is in the order of 50 hen fish and 25 cock fish, which if all goes to plan takes around 2 weeks. Once a fish is caught, it is tethered to the bank, and all fish are collected from the river at the end of each day and transported in an oxygenated tank on the back of a 4x4 to a holding tank at the hatchery.
2. Stripping
In early December, or when the salmon are mature, the fish are stripped. Two hen fish are stripped of eggs into a single bowl (A), a cock fish is then stripped into the same bowl (B) and the milt and eggs mixed gently by hand. The eggs are fertilised almost immediately and left to stand for an hour or so (C), in which time they harden and become more robust. Once all the ripe fish have been stripped, the eggs are laid out in trays in the hatchery. All fish are returned alive to the River Alness after stripping.
3. Hatchery
 Novar operates a small hatchery within the grounds of the estate. The eggs are laid out in trays, and any unfertilised eggs removed. Water supply and filtration in the hatchery is maintained through the winter months. Depending on the exact number of hen fish collected, and the ratio of grilse to salmon, there should be between 150,000 and 200,000 ova/alevins available for planting in the spring.
4. Planting
The planting phase of the program is carried out exclusively by the Cromarty Firth Fisheries Board. They have conducted habitat and electro-fishing surveys of the feeder burns throughout the Alness catchment, and have identified the best habitats for juvenile salmon, and those that are currently not used by salmon due to impassable obstructions to migration. These habitats are most likely to produce the highest number of smolts per egg as there is no natural spawning and no competition from wild fish. Planting generally occurs in February and March, either as eyed-ova or alevins depending on the habitat.
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