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.