Salmon body highlights ‘catastrophic decline in stocks’

THE official scientific advice available to Government about salmon stocks in Irish waters was unflinching.

The Standing Scientific Committee to the National Salmon Commission described a “catastrophic decline in salmon stocks” over the past two decades.

In the mid-1970s, the average number of salmon returning to Irish rivers reached 1.4 million per annum. By 2005, that had fallen to just 200,000.

The scientific evidence was that the only way to address this massive decline was to eliminate “indiscriminate mixed stock fishing at sea”. And the only way to do this was to ban drift-net fishing at sea and in the four main estuaries. Most commercial drift netting occurs off the western and southern coasts, in counties Donegal, Mayo, Galway, Kerry, Cork and Waterford.

Inland, the story is hardly better. At present only 24 rivers in Ireland meet the conservation limits for salmon. Most are in the western half of the country. The Independent Salmon Group say that, with the ban, 10 further rivers may meet the limit, bringing the total to 34.

However, harvesting will be prohibited in 32 rivers where there is no surplus salmon and in the 76 other rivers where there is insufficient data.

Harvesting will be banned as a precautionary approach.

At present there are 877 drift-net licence holders in Ireland.

The numbers of licences shot up in the 1970s with the introduction of monofilament nets. Only three of those catch more than 1,000 salmon annually. In fact, well over half (445) catch less than 50 fish per annum. For them this is part-time as well as seasonal work.

The €30 million hardship fund will be geared towards drift-net fishermen. Those who catch 50 fish per annum will be entitled to a payment of almost €9,000, those with an annual haul of 750 salmon will get a little over €105,000.