Nets are choking salmon tourism

I WISH to express my concern at new research suggesting that North Atlantic salmon are in serious decline.

The National Salmon Commission has published the results of a survey which suggests that only three out of 200 rivers have sufficient stocks of fish returning to spawn to sustain existing stocks.

The total salmon catch in 1970 was 1,676 tonnes compared to 575 tonnes in 2003. Drift- and draft-netting of salmon from May to August each year will take over 400,000 salmon around our coast from Donegal to Kerry and right up to Carlingford. This accounts for over 70% of the total salmon catch.

We are now the only country in the EU drift-netting for salmon. Iceland, Scotland and north-east England banned it after initiating a buy-out scheme for its drift-net fishermen. Angling tourism has also declined, from 184,000 visitors in 1994 to 70,000 in 2000.

A drift-net salmon caught is worth €22 to our economy, compared to €423 for a rod-caught salmon. Scotland, Iceland and north- east England cannot cope with the increase in angling visitors since the ban on drift-nets with massive numbers of fish returning to the rivers.

The recent Indecon report said that angling brings in a whopping £113m and 2,800 full-time jobs to Scotland. Why can’t our Government see the economic and recreational value to our economy?

It is ironic that the Department of the Marine pays 20m per annum to staff to protect salmon rivers and estuaries, while the 877 drift-net licensees decimate 70% of the stock before they even reach the rivers to spawn.

This money could be used to fund the estimated €30m required to compensate drift-net fishermen. I hope the Government will save this valuable national resource before it is too late.

Teddy Foley

Clahane

Ballyard

Tralee

Co Kerry.