Countryside Alliance Ireland - love the countryside

Any salmon angler or conversationalist who campaigned for the wild Atlantic salmon are now dejected after learning of the decision by the new regime in Dublin under Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Mr Pat Rabbitte TD to reopen what was classified as a mixed stock fishery in Castlemaine Harbour near Cromane in County Kerry.   

As news of the decisions from Fishery District Committees arrive in our office it is apparent that stocks are in serious decline and the policy will not change anytime soon. For example, one river in Donegal has a surplus of 194 fish to be divided up between 200 anglers and 10 draft licenses (some from closed Bays miles up the coast) which left under ten tags for each netsman and over half of the anglers having to catch and release again for the second year running. It is madness to allow commercial netting on a fishery that warrants brown tags for anglers, yet this happens year after year by people being paid from our licence revenue.

What a nightmare start to this season when on 19 May the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Mr. Pat Rabbitte TD announced plans to re-open licensed commercial fishing in Castlemaine Harbour, following receipt of the results of the pilot fishery undertaken there in 2010. Last year a pilot fishery was permitted to take place inside Castlemaine Harbour under the supervision of Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI).  

The Department requested advice from IFI on how a commercial fishery could be operated on salmon stocks in the Castlemaine Harbour Special Area of Conservation in a sustainable manner, maximizing the opportunities for commercial fishing while ensuring that stocks are not over-exploited. As part of the pilot, a comprehensive monitoring programme ran for the duration of the salmon fishing season and covered all areas of the harbour.  

The pilot aimed to investigate whether stock proportions vary over the fishing season and also to determine if they vary between different areas of the fishery. Additionally genetic samples were taken from salmon caught during the pilot fishery and were analysed by UCC to identify the proportion of salmon from the rivers entering the Castlemaine Harbour area and, if present, rivers from outside this area. The result of the pilot, the report by IFI to the Minister, indicates that a commercial fishery should be permitted in Castlemaine Harbour in 2011, inside the rivers Laune, Maine and Caragh and within specified areas in Castlemaine Harbour.  

The bottom line for anglers is that we now face an uphill battle to overturn this decision made by Minister Rabbitte TD following lobbying by the commercial draftnetting industy. 

Noel Carr FISSTA

Board Member Countryside Alliance Ireland