Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 October 2012
389. Deputy Pat Deering asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the criteria used to decide the season closing date for inland fishing and the reason some rivers are shut down two weeks earlier than others. [45719/12]
View answerThe open season for salmon fishing in Ireland is set by regulation, on the advice of the Standing Scientific Committee, and generally closes on 30 September. I am advised by Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) that in light of requests for extension of the season, it requested the Standing Scientific Committee (SSC) to devise criteria that could be used to extend the angling season.
The following guidance was provided by the Standing Scientific Committee for Salmon (SSC) on the criteria that should be evaluated when considering a proposal for an extension to the angling season in a salmon catchment from a scientific perspective:
An angling season should only be extended if the salmon stock has been meeting Conservation Limit (CL) and is likely to continue to meet its CL
if an extension is given i.e. provided no more than the harvestable surplus is taken.
Where an extension is being considered, there should be a reasonable sized quota and a reasonable proportion of the surplus remaining after
the original season has ended to avoid recruitment over fishing.
An extension could be facilitated on a river with a smaller remaining quota if catch and release was only allowed during the extension period.
Avoiding recruitment over fishing would also be facilitated by having good information on run timing such that the likely proportion of the stock
which will return prior to and within the extension period can be evaluated.
It is recommended that the presence of fresh fish prior to or during the extension period can be confirmed by local IFI Inspectors or that this is
likely from previous year’s experience.
In addition, care must also be taken to address the possibility of taking red or coloured (often referred to as unclean or unseasonable) salmon during a period when the salmon angling season is extended after September. The 1959 Fisheries Act protects ‘unseasonable fish’ in Section 176 as follows: 176.—(1) If any person takes, kills or destroys any unseasonable salmon or trout, such person shall be guilty of an offence (the expression “unseasonable salmon or trout” means any salmon or trout which is about to spawn, or which has spawned and has not recovered from spawning;).
