This article is from page 9 of the 2012-03-20 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 9 JPG
ONLY seven on-the-spot fines were issued to Clare anglers in 2011, despite reports of a major fish-poaching problem developing in the county.
According to new statistics obtained from Inland Fisheries Ireland, a total of 3,342 man-hours of river and lake searches were conducted by the organisation last year.
These searches resulted in just seven fines, meaning that each fine took, on average, 477 hours of searching to be identified.
This is despite reports of an increase of poaching taking place on some of Clare’s salmon and trout rivers. According to Dr Ciaran Byrne, CEO of Inland Fisheries Ireland, West Clare has become a hot-spot for poaching during the summer months and the organisation has to draft in enforcement staff from other areas to combat the problem.
Anecdotal reports suggest that illegal angling is taking place on five Clare rivers which has been closed to legal fishing since 2007, to allow stocks of fish to recover.
Conservation measures were introduced on the Inagh, Annageeragh, Doonbeg, Aughyvacheen and Skivileen Rivers in 2007, following historically low stock levels in previous years.
Indeed, in the six years between 2001 and 2007, only 78 fish of 40cm or larger were caught on the rivers – or just more than 2.5 fish per river, per year.
“Protection of salmon and sea trout in West Clare has always, and continues to be, a major focus for staff in the lower Shannon area of Inland Fisheries Ireland and, while staff do encounter larger-scale episodes of illegal fishing, they do also come across individual anglers who are illegally fishing for salmon,” said Dr Byrne.
“During the summer months, staff work in teams and are frequently drafted from other areas to West Clare to assist officers with surveillance work, both on the Clare coastline for illegal drift net fishing, and inshore for illegal salmon fishing.”