Fahey suffers setback as salmon commission chair resigns

The Minister for the Marine, Mr Fahey, has suffered a setback with the resignation of Prof Noel Wilkins of NUI Galway from the chair of the National Salmon Commission.

Prof Wilkins, who is a widely respected marine scientist, is understood to have been upset at the Minister's intervention in the recent row over a new conservation scheme for salmon. This had "undermined" the role and standing of the commission, he said in a letter to the Minister dated March 1st.

It is understood Mr Fahey has already approached Mr Joey Murrin, former chief executive of the Killybegs' Fishermen's Organisation, to take over the chair of the commission.

The Irish Fishermen's Organisation (IFO) has described it as a disaster, and said it was quite evident that Prof Wilkins had been forced to go.

Prof Wilkins has declined to comment publicly, beyond confirming his resignation, but relations with the Minister had deteriorated following last month's protest by the Federation of Irish Salmon and Sea Trout Anglers (FISSTA) in Galway.

FISSTA, which represents 84 clubs and 11,000 anglers, is opposed to the scheme introduced by the commission on January 1st to tag all salmon and introduce logbooks. In the week after the protest, Mr Fahey told the Dail he was amending the logbook to reduce the amount of information required. He also said that he had asked the National Salmon Commission to continue to review the logbook requirements for 2002.

"Noel Wilkins chaired the 1996 review of salmon management, and earned the respect of all participants as a man of integrity and principle," Mr Frank Doyle, secretary-general of the IFO, said yesterday.

"Prof Wilkins was put in by Minister Fahey as an independent chairman, and was punished for being too independent. It is appalling that the Minister should attempt to try and bring an independent advisory body under his wing, and is a very poor reflection on the way systems work," Mr Doyle said.