Mulkear River is high priority in salmon protection and conservation

Inland Fisheries Ireland said that it regards the Mulkear River as a high priority in protecting and conserving the numbers of salmon returning to the catchment.

The IFI has been criticised by the local Mulcair & District Anglers Club, which has called upon the ESB to take back responsibility for policing the river.

The ESB said it has renewed the IFI’s contract. The ESB noted that the IFI, being the state agency charged with the protection of inland fisheries, is the group best placed to provide this protection service.

The IFI yesterday said that the Mulkear River is reaching its conservation limit and has a surplus available for harvest. The quota available, as determined by the independent standing scientific committee, is 645 fish. With a high angling club membership on the river, circa 350 members, IFI will manage the 2014 quota available under a brown tag system, it said.

“A brown tag management system is not an indicator that the river may close in the subsequent years. It is a management measure to ensure that the quota available is fairly distributed where the numbers of anglers fishing the river could potentially exceed the available number of fish for harvest,” stated Amanda Mooney, IFI director in Limerick.

“Two other rivers in the Shannon River Basin District, which were closed since 2007, will open to salmon angling under catch-and-release rules in 2014.

Inland Fisheries Ireland’s remit is to protect, conserve and develop inland fisheries and employs extra staff annually to cope with the seasonal demands in the various catchments.”

In 2013, IFI Officers have devoted over 5,500 man hours in the Mulkear and Lower Shannon catchment through various patrols, seized 1,050 metres of net, inspected over 1,100 anglers and issued on-the-spot fines and revoked permits where breaches have been detected.

IFI monitors the tail race daily by both overt and covert patrols as well as utilising camera and other technology — this has resulted in a number of successful prosecutions in the past number of years.

“IFI continue to patrol all areas throughout the closed season and, in particular, in spawning grounds,” stated Ms Mooney.

* IFI requests anglers to report any suspicious activity observed as soon as possible to the local officers, or through the 24-hour hotline on 1890 34 74 24 to enable apprehension of illegal operators.