Irish and European anglers welcome Government decision to close the Irish Drift Net Fishery

 
From the office of EAA in Brussels, November 2nd, 2006.

 
The European Anglers Alliance (EAA) and Federation of Irish Salmon and Seatrout Anglers (FISSTA) welcomed the decision by the Irish Government to adopt the Independent Salmon Group Report to end mixed stock fisheries immediately. A compensation fund of € 30 mill. has been approved to pay commercial driftnet fishermen over 5 times their annual salmon income so that Ireland will no longer be in breach of the EU Habitats directive in 2007.  

The Minister for the Marine, Noel Dempsey TD, is to be applauded for taking the Independent Salmon Group’s (ISG) recommendations to ban drift-netting to the Cabinet against much opposition. The rivers of Europe can now hope for a recovery process to begin as their salmon will no longer be intercepted by the Irish driftnets. Others in the feeding countries such as  Greenland, Faroe Islands and Iceland will now see some reward for their decision to forego netting rights to fish for salmon as a part of an international drive to help speed the recovery.

The EAA were joined in Brussels today with Ireland’s premier salmon angling body, Federation of Irish Salmon and Seatrout Anglers (FISSTA), who has led the campaign for the lifetime of six Irish Governments in conjunction with the  North Atlantic Salmon Fund.
 
In 2004, FISSTA decided to form a united angling and stakeholders group to lobby the politicians in what later became known as ‘Stopnow’.
 
The success of this single issue campaign hastened the decision to end such a damaging practice which was long overdue and all anglers are delighted that no more salmon will be lost to the commercial nets off the Irish coast. Scientific evidence has long supported the need for this ban to ensure the long-term survival of  Irish & EU salmon stocks.
 
The office of EAA has assisted FISSTA in ensuring that all EU obligations in the protection of the salmon habitat are met and has led the non Government organisations campaign at NASCO for over 15 years.
 
The EAA and FISSTA are delighted that the efforts by all involved in the long campaign to convince the Irish Government  to end this damaging practice to our wild Atlantic salmon has been listened at last by this Minister for the Marine, Noel Dempsey TD, and is to be commended in taking the ISG reccomendations to ban drift-netting to the Cabinet for such a historic decision.
 
With this success, now comes the responsibility for Irish salmon anglers and stakeholders to ensure that the benefits of more salmon returning to Irish rivers are translated into enhanced stocks and a sustainable angling and recreational industry. EAA assemblies will continue to hear from FISSTA on level of progress and will hopefully encourage many of our five million EAA members to include Ireland in their future angling holiday plans to view that wonderful scene of our wild Atlantic salmon leaping the waterfalls on their way back to their natal pool for spawning.

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