Call me cynicall but
<<Brendan Burns made history when he returned his 10 lb fish to the River Drowes, Co Leitrim, and picked up a £1,000 reward for doing so. His gesture meant that, unlike its predecessors, the first salmon of 2006 will not be eaten at a grand charity banquet.>>
The £1000 might have had a bit to do with it. I wonder what happened to salmon no 2 etc
I am part of the 50% decrease in foreign anglers in Ireland.
Started fishing there in the age of 10 in the seventies and stopped it 2003.
Had a lot beautiful days on various rivers, made friends and so on.
But they will not see me back until they change the drift netting policy definetly.
I simply do not want to sponsor Mr. Gallaghers Minister income with my money left there.
Okay, you my debate controversal about my reaction, but in the end its only the money that counts...and I am sure that we can change the current situation with the drift netting only that way.
Tight lines,
Sluggan
Back again to say hello. It is a semi glorious 2006. It looks like in Ireland the salmon drift netting may come to a close. It will happen this year or this will be the last year of it. Pressure from abroad and the EU is forcing the Irish Department of the MArine on the issue.
Regarding the catch and release issue in Ireland, the Fisheries Boards have always advocated catch and release, especially for atlantic salmon. The Fisheries Boards introduced a special award last year for the angler who returned the most of his catch. This year the Board's stepped in to prevent the auctioning of a spring fish for a Banquet. The money did not go to the angler, it went to his nominated charity. We have promoted catch and release of atlantic salmon on all relevant published material since at least 1998.
However, anglers are slow to change their ways, and many visiting anglers insist on bringing home a trophy from their trip to our shores. So though the numbers of salmon released are rising every year, recent figures from the 2004 Wild Salmon and Seatrout Tagging Report demonstrate that an average of 9% of all salmon caught last year were released. I don't know what this rate compares to other "open" fisheries.
Things may not be perfect here, but please, if you decide not to visit make your reason's clear to the Minister responsible; preferrably through an open letter to one of the national papers in Ireland (Irish Times, Irish Examiner, Irish Independent). That way it is not an statistic that can be lost in a sea of numbers.
Good luck with the fish in 2006,
Mylo
A couple of articles of interest regarding atlantic salmon in ireland:
Thanks for the update on catch and release in Ireland, and good luck with the continued initiative. With wild salmon numbers plummeting in the last few years the way they have, I don’t think it makes sense to keep any of them. Please keep us updated with what happens in Ireland, as we are all concerned.
Charlie
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