A former chairman of the Government's advisory body on wild salmon has said that the State still faces "hard management decisions" on inland waters if the threatened stock is to be conserved.
Prof Noel Wilkins, of NUI Galway, who was the first chairman of the National Salmon Commission (NSC), said that the "worst of all worlds" would be for a surplus of fish to be transferred from commercial catchers offshore to anglers onshore.
"The Government's independent review group made a fundamental mistake in its justification for the drift-net ban," Prof Wilkins said. "It said that this would allow tourists to catch the fish - and that is not conservation.
"I would suggest that anglers should now be asked to pay for management with a fee of €23 per fish - which is what commercial netsmen are being offered in compensation."
The Government's decision was endorsed yesterday by the NSC's current chairman, Joey Murrin, who said that infringements of the EU habitats directive had left it with no choice.
However, Mr Murrin said he believed that drift-netting was only a part of the problem in relation to the decline in salmon stocks and was a "soft target".
The NSC, which had a meeting yesterday to consider the report of the independent review group, would be advising the Government on other serious issues relating to pollution, protection measures, poaching and the impact of predators, such as seals, along with "habitat correction", Mr Murrin said.
"The NSC will ensure that this decision does not result in a field day for a certain group of anglers," he warned.
The Irish Fish Processors and Exporters' Association (IFPEA) has expressed concern about the impact which the drift-net ban will have on firms which smoke wild Atlantic salmon.
