As wild Atlantic salmon stocks reach a critical level, from which they may never recover, the Minister for the Marine, Mr Fahey, has finally stirred himself into a semblance of action.
There was, however, more rhetoric than substance in the Minister's pronouncements on the future of salmon stocks, especially as they came in advance of the deliberations of the National Salmon Commission. Some of the suggested conservation measures will be delayed until 2003, after the general election has taken place.
The response by the Minister and his Department to the near-destruction of this highly-prized game species should not surprise. It is part of a broader picture wherein EU governments and their various fishing fleets have plundered the oceans, destroying habitats and devastating a variety of fish species in pursuit of short-term national and commercial gains. Scientific evidence about collapsing stocks has been largely ignored in the setting of EU quotas.
Fishermen from all countries have operated on the basis that if they don't catch it, somebody else will. This short-term approach is a recipe for disaster
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While EU states compete for vanishing resources on the high seas, the Irish Government is now the only one that permits inshore netting for salmon. All other States have banned commercial fishing in the interests of conservation.
But Mr Fahey has signalled that this practice will continue in Ireland, and that district quotas will be imposed on salmon netsmen as an alternative conservation measure. Rod anglers have recently been limited to one spring salmon per day and this conservation regime may be extended.
The Federation of Irish Salmon and Sea Trout Anglers, which claims the affiliation of 91 clubs, has objected strenuously to conservation measures that affect its members and insisted, instead, that stocks be protected by buying out the 1,200 driftnet fishermen. It has asked its members not co-operate in salmon tagging and log-book keeping in pursuit of its demands and has hinted at a campaign to disrupt visits by foreign anglers.
Such a selfish, one-dimensional approach should not be countenanced by the broad angling confraternity. If the wild salmon is to survive as a game species, to be enjoyed by our children, rod anglers must share the considerable burden of conservation.
Catch limits will have to be imposed and accepted, along with catch-and-release in certain circumstances. All fishing will have to cease in an increasing number of impoverished waters until stocks recover.