Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 10 December 2020
207. Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications his plans to reintroduce monitored community fishing schemes to allow previous fishing practices such as salmon and eel fishing be used for artisanal and traditional purposes to generate tourism potential and preserve heritage in villages around Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42624/20]
View answerThe fundamental determining factor as to whether a fishing activity can be facilitated is the availability of a sustainable surplus of stocks in line with the conservation imperative. Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) manages salmon on an individual river basis as each river has it own genetically unique stock of salmon. These individual stocks are subject to annual scientific and management review. Exploitation is only permitted on stocks which are meeting their individual conservation limit - the number of spawning adults to maintain a healthy population. Such rivers are open to angling and, where a commercial fishery exists to commercial harvest. Estuaries are open to fishing only where the rivers contributing to the estuary are each maintaining a sustainable surplus. A statutory public consultation process on the draft legislation governing salmon fishing for 2021 closes tomorrow.
IFI also undertakes ongoing research and monitoring of eel populations in Irish waters every year. The European eel is a single stock across the entire European continent and distribution is naturally random between countries. The species is on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (ICUN) red list of endangered species. The very latest international scientific advice is that anthropogenic mortality should be kept at zero or as close to zero as possible. In line with this advice, and Ireland's Eel Management Plan approved by the European Commission under EU regulation 1100/2007, the fishery in Ireland remains closed and there is a prohibition in legislation on issuing licences. No harvesting of eels is permitted and I have no plans to change this position.
