Angling tourists will come flooding back

I WISH to congratulate Environment, Marine and Natural Resources Minister Noel Dempsey on his recent decision to ban drift netting for salmon.

It has been warmly welcomed by the 75,000 anglers representing more than 300 angling clubs in the country. It is thanks to the efforts of these anglers, through protection and conservation measures on our rivers, that the salmon has survived. It must be remembered that we had 1.4 million salmon returning to our rivers in the late 1970s, and only 200,000 in 2005.

No crocodile tears should be shed for the netsmen when the facts are that 445 of the 877 licence-holders returned only a catch of 50 salmon each in the past five years. Compensation is based on these returns.