The River Dee is one of the four principal salmon rivers in Scotland, rising in the Cairngorm Mountains and flowing down to the sea some eighty miles away through the city of Aberdeen. The Dee contains stocks of Atlantic salmon, trout, lamprey and eel, plus an array of introduced species; however it is the salmon for which the river is famous. It has been designated a Special Area of Conservation for Atlantic salmon, primarily due to the strength of the spring-running component of this species. The Dee District Salmon Fishery Board is the statutory body tasked with protecting and enhancing stocks of salmon and sea trout across its district (the catchments of the rivers Dee, Cowie and Carron and the coast from Aberdeen to just below Stonehaven). This Board has been recognised as