Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 27 February 2024
81. Deputy Mairéad Farrell asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if it is the latent policy of the inland fisheries division to legitimise all anthropogenic freshwater fish introductions in County Galway (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8827/24]
View answerThere is no policy, latent or otherwise, within my Department or within Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI), the statutory authority for the protection, management and conservation of Ireland’s inland fisheries and sea angling resources to legitimise the introduction of any non-native, invasive freshwater fish species anywhere within the State.
As Minister, I am concerned with the threat posed by the presence and spread of any such non-native, invasive fish species in all Irish waters and the impact they pose to our native fish populations' species and our ecosystems.
