THE poaching, over fishing and destruction of pike, especially in the upper Shannon and Erne basins by tourists and poachers, is causing concern to conservationists and the Department of the Marine.
Last week a crackdown on any breach of the jaws was ordered by the Department following a high profile court case at Boyle, Co Roscommon, where two German anglers were fined £400 for a series of breaches of the regulations.
These included using live fish as bait, killing a pike exceeding more than 6.6 lb and not having a mandatory shares certificate from the, local fisheries co operative society on Lough Key last October.
Judge Desmond Hogan said if the law provided for a prison sentence he would "have certainly considered it".
He had heard the men had hooked live fish through the dorsal fin for use as jive bait and fisheries officers had also found a 2,0 lb jive pike roped through the jaws and tied to the side of their hired cruiser.
A Central Fisheries Board spokesman said at the weekend that the pike bylaws prohibit the taking or killing by any person of more than one pike in any day and the taking and killing of any pike over 6.6 lb. The laws also prohibit any person having more than one dead whole pike or more than 3.3 lb of pike flesh or parts.
He added that Lough Key was one of the two areas in the Shannon catchment where a mandatory share certificate for the local fishing co operative was required.
He said the Central Fisheries Board and the Department had been concerned for some time about overfishing of pike in the upper Shannon and Erne catchment areas.
"Contrary to common belief, pike numbers can be quite fragile and cannot take overfishing. Fisheries board staff are implementing the rules on the taking of, pike in a very strict way," the spokesman said.
He said a poaching ring from the Northern Ireland had been buying pike, smuggling them North and exporting them in sealed containers to continental markets through Dublin Airport.
"There has been a very strict clampdown on these activities and there will be strict implementation of all the regulations on fishermen, native and tourist, over the season," he said.