Local men convicted of illegal Salmon fishing in Brandon Bay

 At Dingle District court on June 28th 2022, 5 men were convicted of illegal salmon fishing in July 2021. The method being used has been outlawed for well over a decade. Drift net fishing has been banned and many fishermen up and down the west and east coast have been paid off to stop this type of fishing for wild Salmon. An area that has been heavily netted both legally in the past and now illegally, Brandon Bay is a SAC for wild Atlantic Salmon. Legal nets still operate in the estuary of Cloghane as these nets were never bought out by the government. Some fishermen decided not to take payoffs and they legally still net wild Atlantic salmon every summer. Although in fairness these fishermen have to abide by strict quotas. One of the men convicted was an actual commercial salmon net licence owner, Eugene Lyne was observed by IFI staff hauling a multi-filament net of Cahir point near Ballyquin beach. Unfortunately for Eugene this is an illegal way of netting salmon, he has a quota for over a 100 salmon but he must abide by draft netting regulations. Personally I have known for years that well over the quota of salmon is being caught in Brandon and this proves it when people that have licences are also fishing illegally. I think the IFI asked in court for his license to be revoked but judge David Walters decided against that.  Eugene Lyne was again observed by IFI staff using a fixed draft net, draft nets cannot be fixed. Draft netting needs to be practised as set out by Irish regulations, they cannot be fixed on both sides. 

Cloghane estuary

A 55 year old part time fisherman and part time farmer, named in court has Mr O 'Donoghue was observed setting a net below his property in Brandon point, this place has for years been netted, every year you will see nets set from the small beach out to Brandon point, in fact you can see pulley systems set up so nets can be easily hauled in and out. Mr O' Donoghue was caught in June by the IFI and even after that was back setting nets at the same place the following August, the IFI observed him again setting a net, again he was amazed in court that this was illegal. 

Brandon Pier

It's not clear what Eugene Lyne and Mr O'Donoghue were fined but at least one of them was fined 2000 euro plus 500 euro costs. Another 2 men were convicted in Dingle District Court on the same day, these lads were caught on the far side of the peninsula. I will write up a blog on them in the next few weeks. On a personal level its very good work from the IFI, I do know that up to a few years ago the officers on the ground were very limited and couldn't really enforce the law as they simply had not been granted the use of good equipment. I was talking to a Mayo man a few years back and I remember him saying that the appointment of some one relatively high up in the IFI was going to bring in a new mindset and they were directly going to focus on on coastline drift and draft netting. There have been illegal drift nets at sea all along the west coast. I do have knowledge that next year there will be a lot more lads brought to court as this new mindset has really worked, and the evidence is here with significant convictions in Brandon bay. These areas have been netted for years, the exact places will be netted again, as Salmon is fetching huge money on the black market. I have in my possession a video of over 50 illegal salmon being gutted in a community centre in the Cloghane locality. I will never expose it because it's not my place. On this one i want to congratulate all at the IFI for this great work, give credit where credit is due.