seventy-five e-mails in one week says it all. The angling world has collapsed around our feet and frustration across the entire spectrum has reached fever pitch. Everyone is suffering, some much more than others.
Jobs are on the line, angling tourism is non-existent, bookings are cancelled, trade has ground to a halt and home based anglers are bitterly disappointed, particularly at this time of the season.
Yet for all this we must hold the line and help keep foot-and-mouth disease out of this State.
STOP PRESS: I have just received a copy of the Minister of Agriculture's recommendations. Angling is not mentioned. However, a spokesman for the Department of the Marine told me that angling, under certain conditions, would probably recommence next weekend. He expects the emergency by-law to be lifted during the week, and in its place, a set of prioritised categories.
All this, of course, depends on the status quo being maintained in relation to foot-and-mouth disease.
By all accounts the South Western Regional Fisheries Board (SWRFB) made good progress in 2000. Its ambitious five-year plan, now in its second year, showed positive results and prospects look good for this year, according to its annual report.
Notable progress included the excellent run of salmon on the river Blackwater (Kerry), hailed by many visiting anglers as a model fishery and now earmarked for research to determine stock levels and spawning stream enhancement potential.
Inniscarra Lake, jointly managed by the ESB, also enjoyed a good year with an increase in tourist anglers and catch results well above average.
Financial profits from the 13 lakes managed by the board augurs well for the future and will enhance initiatives in the pipeline including agricultural awareness projects, installation of fish counters and phosphate informative programmes.
Catchment management continued to gain support and is now acknowledged as the most appropriate mechanism for managing the fisheries. "This scheme demonstrates how the different parties can join together to safeguard their interests," according to Mr Aidan Barry, chief executive of SWRFB.
Mr Grant White, manager of Maynooth Fly Fishing Club, emails to say arctic char were introduced to the Maynooth fishery for the winter season and proved a resounding success, particularly for their fighting prowess and stamina.
Sadly, the foot-and-mouth crisis and a rise in water temperatures may well deprive anglers of the opportunity to pit their wits against this mysterious fish as the lake is now at its deepest point of 14 feet. By nature, the char will be unable to dive low enough to encounter the colder waters needed to survive a hot summer.
Maynooth Fisheries is a new four-acre fly-fishing facility situated outside the town and, along with char, is stocked with rainbows and steelheads. The lake is fitted with floodlights and intends to stay open until 2 a.m. in the summer months to "get the most of the evening rises", says Mr White.
For further information, email: maynoothflyfishingclub @eircom.net or www.maynoothfisheries.ie
Correspondence and fishy photographs to The Irish Times, D'Olier Street, Dublin 2. Fax: 679 1881. E-mail: angling@irish-times.ie