Gardaí and fishery officers are to work more closely in areas where there are high levels of illegal fishing to combat a growing number of attacks on fishery officers and to tackle the increase in poaching, the Minister for the Marine, Mr Frank Fahey, announced yesterday.
The clampdown on salmon poaching, which Mr Fahey said was "destroying tourism, depleting salmon stocks and threatening the safety of fisheries officers", came after a meeting yesterday between senior gardaí and chief executives from five of the regional fisheries boards as well as the Central Fisheries Board.
Garda Assistant Commissioner Mr Dermot Jennings, along with chief superintendents from the northern-western and southern divisions, attended the meeting in Galway chaired by Mr Fahey.
The Minister has previously strongly condemned a number of serious assaults on fisheries officers in Cork. Yesterday he said it was his ambition to develop a wild salmon industry based on catching a limited amount of premium product and ensuring traceability.
This industry was in stark contrast to "a fish that has been illegally netted, wrapped in dirty rags and thrown in the back of a van before making its way in the back door of a kitchen or a shop," the Minister said. He urged consumers to query the origin of all wild salmon and to ask to see the tag. Possession of an untagged salmon was an offence, he reminded people in the catering and retail trades.
Criminal gangs are suspected of being involved in poaching in the south-west, where there have been serious assaults on fishery officers, a Department spokesman said yesterday.
Poaching was no longer "a Robin Hood " activity, but was antisocial and robbed future generations of a rare resource. It was "a big problem" in areas such as Donegal, Limerick, Cork and Kerry, Mr Fahey said.
It was "depleting scarce salmon resources, damaging our tourism industry, affecting the livelihoods of legitimate salmon fishermen and denying many anglers the opportunity to enjoy their pastime," he said.
In a strong warning to shops, hotels and restaurants, Mr Fahey said: "They are just as guilty as the poacher if they buy or use illegally caught salmon and they will be visited by fishery board inspectors and prosecuted if found to have untagged salmon."
Gardaí and the fishery boards will target areas with high levels of illegal fishing through increased co-operation, intelligence gathering, information exchange and support for each other, Mr Fahey said.