Riddle of the salmon harvest and the anglers who couldn’t find it
A lot of estimates and guesstimates have been coming from the SWRFB, but this 5,000 figure must be placed on the guesstimate pile.
We can only wonder where all these fish were caught, because they certainly were not caught in Kerry. Take the SWRFB-managed Kenmare Backwater, or the 'model fishery' as they like to call it. Isn't it true that the manager of that fishery asked Mr Barry to close it in July last because there were no fish in the river?
And that was before the drought.
Is this not the fishery that the board boasted would be worth over £200,000 to the local economy annually and would provide nine full-time jobs?
Isn't it true this 'model fishery' cannot sustain a single job without a taxpayers' subsidy?
Maybe Waterville had a great salmon season in 2003. No luck there, because salmon angling in Waterville last season was no better than anywhere else.
We're sure Mr Barry would have read every page of the Indecon report and the submission from Waterville anglers. They stated that salmon catches had plummeted; that up to 1991 the average catch was in the region of 1,000, but in the last two seasons less than 200 were taken each year.
What about the Laune? Local anglers say it was the worst season in living memory. Isn't it a fact that a French TV crew spent a day filming with local anglers and left without seeing a fish, not to mention filming one being hooked?
I believe I am correct in stating that beats one and two of the Laune fishery, managed by the SWRFB, produced approximately 40 salmon for the season of eight and a half months.
And remember that in 1993 Peter O'Reilly, when referring to the Laune, in his Rivers of Ireland, wrote: "Catches of 20 spring salmon in one day are not unknown."
Maybe the 5,000 salmon guesstimate applies to Killarney's lakes, but everyone knows fishing on the lakes in 2003 was the worst for years.
Or maybe the guesstimate figure of 5,000 applies to rivers in Cork.
But then again, that is unlikely.
Am I correct in saying that at a SWRFB meeting during the summer the board was made aware of the collapse in salmon numbers on three Cork rivers? Did the inspector not report that in one of the Cork rivers, only 12 fish were visible?
Did the inspector not also warn the board that if greater escapement does not happen now from the drift net sector, we are allowing an unsustainable future for these rivers and the board should act immediately.
Isn't it amazing that Mr Barry's board has the money to threaten prosecution of anglers who did not return logbooks the vast majority without a single fish but when a report was made to the board in Macroom that illegal fishing was taking place in Castlemaine Harbour months into the close season, fisheries officers could not check out that complaint because they said they had no petrol for the jeep?
Despite the fact that 2003 was the worst season on record, anglers can say that they put away their rods at the end of it and did not fish during the close season.
John Buckley,
Chairman,
Killarney Valley Anglers Federation,
17, St Brendan's Terrace,
Killarney,
Co Kerry.
