A WELL-KNOWN salmon fishery in Kerry, closed for the past three years for conservation reasons, is to be reopened, initially on a pilot basis.

CONTINUING removal of gravel and other materials from riverbeds in Cork and Kerry is causing serious damage to fisheries, the South Western Regional Fisheries Board has claimed.

NEW laws should help curb the rapid spread of non-native invasive plants and animals around Ireland – something that is causing growing anxiety among people responsible for protecting waterways, nature and the environment in general.

FEW people forget the primal thrill of landing their first fish.

THE creamery is long-gone, but the real remaining cream at Ballinlough is the lake – and right next to it is Lake House.

BORD Pleanála has refused a developer permission to build 112 houses in a village, west of Cork city, following South Western Regional Fisheries Board objections.

JUST one of three fish kills recorded in the Cork/Kerry region last year is the subject of legal action.

A SPECIALLY designed weed-cutting machine, which has been introduced to Lough Corrib to tackle an invasive plant, may yet be seen in other parts of the country.

Donal Hickey hears ambitious plan has its detractors.

I WAS instantly drawn to the headline ‘Natural salmon habitat to be established in upper River Lee’ (February 11).

A FEAR that damage might be caused to an important spawning river in Kerry was one of the reasons given by An Bord Pleanála for turning down a planning application for a multi-million euro development, it emerged at the weekend.

THE DPP has decided not to bring charges in a case arising from one of the biggest seizures of untagged salmon, it was confirmed yesterday.

THE discovery of a dead basking shark, suffocated in a monofilament net, on a beach in south Kerry led to claims yesterday that such nets are still being used for salmon fishing.

Finding the dead 15-foot basking shark washed up in a monofilament drift net on Fermoyle beach, near Ballinskelligs, Co Kerry, on Sunday, is disturbing because it gives rise to suspicion that some fishermen may still be drift-netting for salmon, even though the practice was outlawed in November 2006.

A LEADING angling figure, who recently spent four days in prison for refusing to pay a fine, has warned of another ‘rod war’ by angry anglers.

FARMERS have threatened to shoot the white-tailed eagle if it attacks livestock after its re-introduction to Kerry in May.

BETWEEN 500 and 600 untagged salmon, worth up to €50,000, have been seized from a Kerry commercial fish premises, the South Western Regional Fisheries Board confirmed yesterday.

PICTURESQUE Lough Lein, in Killarney, is still at risk from an algal bloom, in certain weather conditions.

I REFER to the article published in the Irish Examiner of February 10 which stated that the South Western Regional Fisheries Board reported that 30,000 salmon had been caught by anglers in the region in 2004.

ON RTÉ’s Prime Time programme of Tuesday, February 8, which dealt with our dangerously low wild salmon stocks, South Western Regional Fisheries Board CEO Aidan Barry told the nation that the salmon policing system in his area had been transformed.

Donal Hickey

THE chief executive of the South Western Regional Fisheries Board (SWRFB), Aidan Barry, guessed that the anglers in his Cork/Kerry area caught 5,000 salmon last season (Irish Examiner, Dec 17).