The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
‘SAVE OUR SALMON’ CALL AS SEALS FEAST IN RIVERS
RIVER Laune anglers frankly admitted this week that the 2007 buy-out of the salmon drift netting industry they campaigned for has not resulted in any noticeable rise in the numbers of the fish on the river.
Instead they find themselves now calling for the same measure once sought by the drift-net fishermen: a cull of seals.
Anglers secured the support of local county councillors for the cull in what they now see as a last-ditch effort to save the river salmon fishery which they warn is now in ‘terminal decline’.
Laune Salmon and Trout Anglers’ Association chairman Billy Cotter and secretary Billy Downes laid out a stark picture of the current state of the fishery in a report to councillors at a meeting in Killorglin on Friday.
Plummeting salmon stocks on the Laune are now turning a once lucrative angling tourism business away from mid-Kerry as visitors opt for better fishing in other places, they warned.
Seals are a ‘huge problem’, Mr Downes told councillors on Friday. But he emphasised the anglers are not looking for a general cull - but a control of what he described as ‘specialist’ seals - ones that have learned to push further and further up the river on the hunt for food.
And while seals are currently protected, anglers do not believe the protection extends into freshwater.
Councillors heard that these seals are now venturing as far as the lakes of Killarney. But anglers also urged the council to investigate the possibility of buying out commercial interests at the mouth of the river in Castlemaine Bay.
“The Laune salmon are in terminal decline... The chance of catching a fish on the Laune has diminished significantly... There are little or no tourist anglers coming to the Laune as their chance of catching a fish is nil,” Mr Downes warned.
The total allowable angling catch on the Laune is 4,560 for 2017 – down from 4,743 from 2014. Meanwhile the Maine salmon has collapsed almost entirely. Just 272 may be caught this year; down from 1,639 two years ago.
The numbers clearly point to zero benefit from the drift-net buy-out, as Mr Downes frankly admitted: “In 2007, we had the buy-out of the drift nets but we have seen no benefit of this.”
They believe that a buy-out of the draft nets would boost spawning salmon numbers dramatically, pointing to a three- year buy-out at the turn of the millenium that ‘proved very successful’.
But the increasingly canny seals are driving salmon numbers to the point of collapse.
Already, angling tourism is being hammered by the lack of fish in a major threat to the general economy of mid-Kerry.
The men presented numerous anecdotal cases of tourists who couldn’t even catch a single fish.
“Seven French anglers came for a whole week, buying permits, licences and so on. They must have left about €2,000 in the local economy. Are they going to come back? Well, if you went to France and didn’t catch a fish would you come again? I don’t think you would,” Mr Downes said.
“One angler who came in May stated on a fishing forum that ‘I have just been fishing in Johnston’s [part of the Laune]... we have not seen a fish. We met local anglers who told us there are nets in the mouth of the river. It’s a pity this wasn’t mentioned’,” Mr Downes added.
He and Mr Cotter pointed to Ballina where a buy-out of draft netters at the mouth of the Moy led to the point where angling is now worth €12.5million per annum on a river considered the best in Europe for salmon.