Galway & Fermoy Co. Cork Rally Speech 3.2.01

Fellow Anglers, Today we gather from all over Ireland in Eyre Square and Fermoy Co Cork to march for the conservation of the wild Atlantic Salmon. Our motto is "Committed to Conservation" and the alarming decline now means the catches are down from 12,000 in the mid 1970's to our last 2,000 tons last year.
The experts agree there are 6 main reasons for the decline of the salmon
1. Nets - Gauntlet
2. Seals & Predators
3. Fish Farm Pollution
4. Climatic
5. Feeding Grounds
6. Habitat Threats such as forestry, drainage, pollution, farm chemicals. Etc
But before these must come the governments who have failed to respond to the crisis and we address Frank Fahey T.D. and the Department he holds responsibility for today. We want to send a very clear message to Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources and that the tagging scheme as it presently stands will be opposed because it presents the netsmen of another two opportunities for the laundering of poached fish. We call them the two black holes into which thousands of salmon will be laundered this year unless it is addressed. One way is by using the rod tag and the other by using the fish farm box. The system proposed is ill thought out and is leading to a total waste of the money and effort that is going into it. For years, FISSTA has campaigned for tagging of the commercial catch with quotas. What we were given by the Harry Lloyd Review Group was tagging of the recreational angler and no quotas on the commercial netsmen. Some legacy! Tags without quotas on commercial nets are a total waste of time and money.
Moreover, this census, will not put one extra salmon back into the rivers of Ireland, but only delay the day by about 3 years when the quotas are put on the nets. We asked the Minister nicely last year to resolve our five main concerns but we are still waiting.
These concerns were raised as far back as the first Salmon Commission meeting last April and still we have had no action. We have explored every channel to achieve change but to no avail. That was May and until now nothing has been resolved or even seriously addressed at Salmon Commission level.
The five main issues to be resolved are as follows:

(i) A ban on the sale of all salmon and seatrout outside the season as it is at present.
(ii) Tags must not be used to extend the season as the Minister stated he would in a Dail reply to Deputy Dinny Mc Ginley T.D. As all other conservation measures from protection, extra day of netting, counter programme etc, have been ignored, any attempt to extend the season by tags will result in the complete demise of the salmon stocks in the shortest time possible.
Under no circumstances will FISSTA tolerate this decimation.
(iii) All farmed fish msut be tagged at the point of harvest. The bar-coding of the
box is a sop and we know exactly how much abuse this will be subjected to in
catering circles. One hotel manager thinks the used boxes which he normally
throws on the skip are worth money this season. As much as 15% to 20% of
the national driftnet catch (90%) could go this route. And the Minister
wonders why we are resisting tags being put on the anglers 3%? There is no
point in operating a system that does not work - so address our five
concerns and get it right.
(iv) Protection staff be deployed this time on the high seas and laws must be enforced with new creative measures which must be adopted. Serious attempts should start by 90% protection effort being deployed in driftnet areas in accordance with the catch. Quay inspections, fish counter programmes, tagging period, new role for voluntary waterkeepers, and bycatch problem should be addressed.
(v) The information required to be filled in on the Logbooks is quite simply bureauocracy gone mad. This is a sport, a recreation not a commercial enterprise. Anyway, the proposal overlooks the system in place with most clubs. Data collection of catch statistics are already being collected for our 3% of fish through the affiliated clubs. The duplication of logbooks to the RFB of the same statistics only leads to resistance and big brother accusations in what is a recreation. A recreation which tourists must pay for to be confronted by another layer of bureaucracy. How will fishery staff explain to Germans, French or Spanish the filling of a logbook?

We remind the Minister once again that there is indeed a much easier option for us all that will put the maximum amount of salmon in the shortest period back in the Irish rivers. If the Salmon Commission/DOMNR completes a quota report by the end of this month we all can achieve the conservation goal faster than any other way. In light of the recent Perrill driftmen survey which shows there is now strong acceptance for the cessation of driftnets we urge you to reconsider this alternative.
Despite our serious differences on methods I believe you are ready to spend some funds towards the international buyout concept or some other model. Netsmen will only partake under a voluntary programme and there is sufficient interest leaving aside the money factor as the survey indicates. If immediate quotas are declared by the middle of this month, this will encourage a voluntary buyout programme but only on a voluntary basis thus saving badly spent money on an impossible (staff enforcement) and potentially flawed programme of tagging angling and farm fish. A superfluous exercise if you agree the objective is to get more salmon spawning in our rivers - and I know you do. We urge the Minister to engage with Orri Vigfusson and use his international body the NASF North Atlantic Salmon Fund that has expertise in this kind of negotiation to seal the deal.
We are the last driftnet fishery left in the North Atlantic who has not engaged with the NASF - England and Northern Ireland decided last month, and Wales did last year.

Fissta urge the Minister to make this decision now. Everyone can be in a win/win situation with this proposal. Especially the salmon - and the numbers would stand as a testament to your courage at seizing this opportunity and reducing the workload on a fishery board staff that is already under resourced.
Anglers are patient people, but should not be taken for granted - and that's the attitude we are getting at the moment from DOMNR.
It is an injustice to delay this buyout programme any longer and we in FISSTA are the only body calling on all anglers and enviromental bodies to join the FISSTA vision - a vision that is designed to put salmon in abundance back in our rivers.
It was Mandela that said "Vision without action achieves nothing, Action without vision is a waste of time, Vision and action together can change the world"
We can change the salmon world and continuing the fight the for this urgent conservation issue now before the last salmon is skulled in this country.
Go raibh mile maith agaibh.