This article is from page 14 of the 2006-11-07 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 14 JPG
THE Shannon Regional Fisheries Authority has called on Clare fishermen to diversify their catch in the wake of last week’s landmark ban on salmon drift netting in Irish waters. With local quotas standing at 6,000 and the average cost per salmon nearing €25, the industry is worth some €150,000 to local fisherman each year.
While a spokesperson for the fishing authority broadly welcomed last week’s decision, he noted that there was a long standing tradition of drift-netting in the county, especially on the banks of the Shannon and the Fergus.
“I don’t believe that with the numbers being caught in the region that any fishermen could have been surviving on drift-netting alone, so I don’t think that this move is going to put anyone out of business,” commented the spokesperson.
“Those who would have been in the coastal situation would be into different types of fishing and the hope is that they will diversify further into these areas. Some fisherman’s groups have called for a licence to be put in place to allow a limited amount of drift netting to take place. We hope that it is gone for good, we are virtually the only country in the EU which allows it. Drift-netting was at its peak in the 1970s and 80s and that’s when the real damage was done. In those days, there were anywhere from 10,000 to 20,000 salmon caught in the region each year. The quota was brought down to 6,000 for this year and while people might say that 6,000 is not a massive amount of fish, it is still 6,000 more who will reach the spawning grounds each year.”