Two elements from an independent group’s recommendations could, if implemented realistically, influence greatly the preservation of wild salmon in Irish waters.

MARINE Minister John Browne yesterday accepted the recommendations of the National Salmon Commission that the total catch of salmon for 2006 should be 106,367.

SALMON netsmen throughout the country descended on the Dáil yesterday to campaign against plans they say will kill off their livelihoods.

SEAMUS DE BURCA (Irish Examiner letters, March 13) incorrectly labelled the debate on drift nets as a political football, with all political parties abandoning the small coastal communities.

AS a commercial salmon fisherman for the past 30 years, I believe I know what it was like for the native Indian population in America who were kicked off their land and put into reservations.

SCIENTISTS have recommended a significant reduction in the wild salmon quota in the season ahead.

AN international organisation yesterday backed a Fine Gael blueprint aimed at both safeguarding and utilising wild salmon stocks more economically.

A voluntary compensation scheme for fishermen who stop fishing will improve the dire state of Ireland’s salmon stocks, Fine Gael claimed today.

A PARLIAMENTARY committee has urged the Government to reverse its policy on salmon conservation by introducing a voluntary buyout scheme for fishermen.

The Progressive Democrats are using the survival of the salmon industry as a political football, an Oireachtas Committee claimed today.

THE number of people visiting Ireland to fish for salmon has halved in the past six years, decimating parts of the tourism trade associated with angling.

Marine Minister Pat the Cope Gallagher has announced the Total Allowable Catch for Salmon in 2005 will be 139,900 fish.

Irish sea fishing bosses have ruled out a nationwide seal cull to tackle declining salmon stocks, it emerged today.

Countryside Alliance Ireland has thrown its support behind a Green Party campaign to save Irish salmon stocks.

I WISH to express my concern at new research suggesting that North Atlantic salmon are in serious decline.

FISHERIES Minister Pat 'The Cope' Gallagher was called on to save wild salmon in Irish rivers by buying out the licences held by offshore drift fishermen.

THE National Salmon Commission yesterday called for a census of the seal population and said a cull may be necessary.

ANGLERS may win an exemption from tough new rules on salmon fishing which are due to be imposed in September.