News from the coast and inland waterways
€2.50/£2.00 Bi-Monthly
August/September 2010 Vol 6 Issue 4
Climate Change Special Pages 12-15
Ireland’s potential as world seafood leader threatened by delays over Habitats Directive News...................................... page 2-4 Comment................................. page 5 Your View................................ page 6
page 2-3
Interview with IFI Chief........ page 8-9 Water 2010....................... page 16-17 Marine R&D...................... page 20-22
Salmon fishery pilot may be in breach of EU Habitats Directive John Hearne
C
ritics of the pilot scheme in Castlemaine Harbour say that it conflicts with government’s own scientific advice and have dubbed it a ‘vote getting exercise’ in a marginal rural constituency. They fear that it will lead to the re-establishment of a mixed stock fishery in the area. The government closed mixed stock fisheries in 2007 to bring Ireland in line with advice from the International Council for the Exploitation of the Seas (ICES) and the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organisation (NASCO). According to Inland Fisheries Ireland, harvest fisheries are now only allowed on stocks that are shown to have
a surplus of fish over the conservation limit. Fisheries in estuaries are only permitted provided the stocks from individual rivers entering the estuaries are meeting conservation limits. Last May however, Conor Lenihan, Minister of State at the Department of Communications, Energy & Natural Resources (DCENR), announced that under section 18 of the Fisheries Act 1980, a pilot fishery ‘would be permitted in a particular area of Castlemaine Harbour to determine how a salmon fishery might be operated on salmon stocks in the harbour, maximising the opportunities for commercial fishing while ensuring that stocks are not over-exploited.’ The fishery commenced on June 10 and will run until the last week of August. According to information supplied to Inshore Ireland by Inland Fisheries Ireland, 154 salmon were caught from the
beginning of the pilot to July 16.
GENETIC ANALYSIS In a statement to Inshore Ireland, the DCENR says the pilot fishery will identify the proportion of salmon in catches from the Laune, Maine and other rivers entering Castlemaine. As part of the exercise, additional genetic analysis on the salmon populations on the Behy and Emlagh rivers will be undertaken to confirm if both stocks are discrete from stocks in other rivers. In all, the pilot carries a catch limit of 800 salmon. In 2008, the Minister for Communications, Energy & Natural Resources, Eamon Ryan, introduced a by-law to prohibit the taking of all salmon by all means from Castlemaine Harbour. At the time, he stated: “I am mindful of the advice of the Standing Scientific »» page 2
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Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Sean Connick TD and Dr Richard Fitzgerald, NUI Galway, examine cod broodstock specifically designed for the Irish environment. Full story page 3. (Photo: Aengus McMahon).