The Ness & Beauly Fisheries Trust is a registered charity and a company limited by guarantee. Overall management of the Trust is undertaken by a board of directors. Meetings of the management board are chaired by Neil Cameron and there are currently four other directors, namely Nicolas McAndrew, Jock Miller, Hugh Blakeney and Gordon Menzies. There are currently two full-time members of staff, Keith Williams and Nick Barker, with seasonal staff employed if required. A short profile of the staff members is given below.

Keith Williams - Biologist

Keith holds an MSc in Marine and Fisheries Science from the University of Aberdeen and was awarded a PhD by Cardiff University as a result of a thesis on the relationship between wild salmon production and nutrient levels. Just for good measure, he also has a degree in economics. Prior to joining the Ness & Beauly Fisheries Trust a few months after its inception, Keith was employed by the Cromarty Firth District Fishery Board to assist with bailiffing and research duties. Whilst with the Cromarty Firth District Fishery Board, he successfully achieved Scottish Fishery Co-ordination Centre accreditation in electrofishing and habitat surveying.   He has also completed training in pearl mussel survey protocols.Not content with his role as biologist for the Ness & Beauly Fisheries Trust, he is chairman of the Kyle of Sutherland Angling Association and sits on the Kyle of Sutherland District Salmon Fishery Board and Kyle of Sutherland Fishery Trust.  Just occasionally, he gets to go fishing himself.

Nick Barker – Assistant Biologist

Nick has degrees from the University of St Andrews and Sparsholt College, at the latter writing a dissertation on invertebrate parasites. Since joining Ness & Beauly Fisheries Trust in 2008 Nick has concentrated largely on fieldwork activities during the summer months, in particular conducting the annual electrofishing surveys. He has also collated much of the data gathered by the Trust since its inception and has expanded the Salmon in the Classroom educational programme to include a number of local schools.  Talks to older age groups in schools and the provision of talks at careers events etc take up an increasing part of his time.  Nick has full Scottish Fishery Co-ordination Centre accreditation in electro-fishing and habitat surveying and has also undertaken pearl mussel survey training. He gets to go fishing a bit more often than his colleague.

The core activities of the Ness & Beauly Fisheries Trust include the collection of data on fish stocks within the area. The gathering of this data facilitates the provision of informed advice to the district salmon fishery boards and other agencies within the Ness & Beauly catchments. Additionally, habitat data is collected to identify, for example, barriers to fish migration to would benefit from remedial action. Collaborative research into key issues such as salmon genetics and the causes of the decline in sea trout abundance is ongoing. A growing activity of the trust is the provision of education and outreach services. Consultancy services are also provided by Ness & Beauly Fisheries Trust and numerous reports, surveys etc  have been commissioned by various projects, individuals, companies etc including European funded projects such as SAFER.