Climatic conditions favourable to sea trout production did not improve in 1983 and juvenile output from freshwater was poor. Several years of a reduced smolt exodus have resulted in the stocks being depleted of older fish and a large proportion of the 1983 landings consisted of post-smolt (finnock). The mean smolt age has been tending upwards so that the prospect for "specimen" sea trout in the future is not good. In spite of the depleted recruitment of the past few years the yield from sea trout fisheries has remained fairly constant: the estimated total catch between 1980 and 1982 varied from 49.4 to 59.3 tonnes. A steady catch total against a background of fluctuating recruitment is due to two factors: first, the catch being a small proportion of the stocks and second, the fact that sea run trout make a divided return to fresh water.