13km of illegal fishing nets seized last year 

Illegal fishing nets were seized by Inland Fisheries Ireland officers.

More than 1,200 items were seized last year by protection officers at Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI).

The state agency responsible for protecting freshwater fish and habitats seized items including 13km of illegal nets, spear guns, traps, illegally caught fish, and stoke hauls.

Measuring 13,158 metres in total, 250 illegal fishing nets were among the 1,287 items seized during the state agency’s patrols and inspections in 2020.

Unless licenced, it is illegal to use a net for catching freshwater fish due to the ecological damage they cause to fish populations and habitats.

Head of Operations at IFI, Dr Greg Forde emphasised the number of items seized, including 13 kilometres of illegal fishing nets from poachers.

“To put that figure into perspective, that’s enough illegal netting to line the runway at Dublin Airport five times over,” Dr Forde said. 

Illegal fishing has a detrimental effect on our fish population, doing untold damage to this precious resource and in particular to Wild Atlantic Salmon stocks at this time of year.

Dr Forde thanked the public for reporting incidences of illegal fishing and helping the agency “to better protect and conserve fisheries for future generations”. 

Due to both the severity of the offence and the environmental impact caused by illegal fishing, IFI adopted a policy that brings cases involving illegal nets directly to court, with those convicted facing large fines and even prison sentences.

A recent court case involving the use of an illegal net for fishing came before Judge David Waters at Listowel District Court in July this year. 

Tom Allen, with an address of Lixnaw, Co Kerry, was convicted under Section 96 of the Fisheries Acts 1959 – 2017 on a charge of possession of a net along the River Brick in 2020. 

Mr Allen was fined €700 and was ordered to pay €947 in court costs.

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Another court case involving the seizure of an illegal net saw Donal Healy of Castletownbere in Co Cork convicted in October 2020 on two counts of illegal fishing and one count of obstructing IFI officers. 

Mr Healy was fined €2,000 for illegal fishing, including possession of an illegal salmon drift net, a further €2,000 for obstructing fisheries officers and ordered to pay €500 in costs.

IFI has launched an appeal for members of the public to report suspicions of illegal fishing or sightings of illegal nets.