Dr Ronald Campbell

Frank Buckland

The 2018 Buckland Lecture, University College Dublin
20th November 2018

and also at UCC –

Room CEC 7/8, Ground Floor Enterprise Centre, Distillery Fields, Cork 

23 November

This Buckland Lecture offers a unique opportunity to hear one of Europe’s top salmon managers speak on how both scientific and “direct from the river bank” knowledge has informed and misinformed (quite a bit of that!) management of our unique salmon resource over the years. Spanning the period from the early 16th century to today, Ronald’s far ranging and highly entertaining talk will cover:

  • The period when parr were seen as separate species of fish!
  • The revolution that took place once parr were discovered to be the young of salmon
  • Early efforts to artificially breed salmon
  • How the fallacy grew that fertilisation of salmon eggs in the wild was inefficient
  • The view that eggs, fry and parr of salmon were far better off in the cosseted and safe environment of a well run salmon hatchery
  • The talk will describe the last great collapse of grilse stocks in the 1850’s
  • The slow realisation that wild salmon ova and fry belong in the river and not in artificial hatchery tanks

About Ronald:

Ronald C & Tagged Salmon Tweed
Ronald & Tagged Salmon on the Teed

It is no exaggeration to say that fish and fishing is in Ronald’s blood! His schooling started in highlands of Perthshire in the 1960’s. His father had the salmon fishing of the Pass of Killiecrankie and so would take Ronald and his sister an hour early to school, so he could fish while they played on the river bank – at times taking as many as five fresh salmon in that one hour!!! His first degree was in Zoology, at the University of Aberdeen. He then headed to the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand, where he completed a thesis on the effect of water abstraction on a river population of brown trout. His next research post was as a Post-doctoral Fellow in UCC. Following several other placements in Turkey and Scotland he joined the staff of the Tweed Foundation as their first fisheries biologist in 1990. Ronald advised the Commission on fisheries management policy and formulated the Fisheries Management Plans (FMP) for the Tweed & Eye Fisheries District.

The lecture is free but to be sure we can fit you in you must book your place on eventbrite.ie:

https://history-of-salmon-management-buckland-2018.eventbrite.ie

This talk will also be given in UCC on 23 November