Drift-net ban was the only option

IT was July, probably around the mid to late 1970s. My mother piled us children into the car, drove down to the pier in An Spidéal in Galway to buy a few freshly caught salmon from the trawlers and half-deckers as they returned.

There was a small huddle on the pier; a guy from the fisherman’s co-op, a couple of hangers on, buyers, other fishermen.

The crates landed on the pier were many and all were rammed with salmon, so much bigger than the mackerel we were used to from fishing off the rocks.