River Maine Statistics 2018

River Maine and Brown Flesk Fish Counter!! 

River Brown Flesk

So I had to write this, it just might be the biggest tragedy for me and the local anglers of Tralee. The river Maine has been long held as a mecca for anglers in the locality.  It was the river closest to all of us growing up and has been the place were a lot of us have most probably caught our first Salmon or Sea Trout. The sad reality is that the river is been raped both at night and during the day. Both legally and illegally. The illegal nets continue tho get there quota of fish every year although the river is on its knees. At night local gangs continue to net its main holding pools and quite how the river is still open to angling is really a crime on part of the Inland Fishery Board. 

So here is a link to the fish counter results from the 2018 season : 

Inland Fishery Board Fish Counter Results 2018

Here is a snippet from the 2018 report :

"The counter has operated well for the 2018 season as a result of the completion of upgrades to the connections. The counter was checked and reconfigured a number of times during the year to ensure the best count possible was available. Significant debris crossing and getting lodged on the weir has caused an increase in the number of events being recorded. The construction of the weir, which has precast crumps, has significant background noise which affects the accuracy of the counter. The data from this weir has been downgraded to unverified due to the level of background noise on the weir."

So in blue you can see that is says the counter has preformed well in the 2018 season but then in red you can that the counter statistics have been classed as unverified?!!

So how is the counter preforming well if the statistics are unverified!!

Also the report has suggested that the number of spring salmon are in the thousands but in fact I met a fishery officer on the Maine three years ago and he told me that the river was and will never be a spring salmon river!

The reality is that its obvious that the stats from the fish counter are wrong and with angling and netting being allowed to continue then the future of the Maine is in huge trouble. I think the installation of the fish counters has been of huge benefit and they have provided amazing research all over the country. The Maine needs to be looked at and a proper investigation needs to be done by the IFI to examine to findings of the fish counter.

The legal netting cannot continue in the estuary either but for some reason netting of these essential salmon rivers is left continue all over the country. In the age of these young people caring for the environment why are people still purchasing wild salmon from the local fish mongers all over Kerry?

River Maine Fish Counter

For eel and lamprey obstruction caused by river Maine weir follow link:

Eel and lamprey obstruction

Here are the figure that the counter have accumulated for the 2018 season:

Spring salmon 1458 
Grilse 23
Late Summer Salmon 63 
Sea Trout 309