Sea Trout numbers plummet on River Maine!

 With all the talk about Salmon sometimes we can forget about Sea Trout. In the last few years the Sea Trout numbers have completely collapsed, according to the fish counter on the river Maine. The Maine is a great sea trout river, I have caught a few sea trout down through the years, in my younger days I killed a few but with recent years I seem to have softened out. I do put most back now but I am not against killing them, maybe we all need to second guess that. Going by the figures on the fish counter should the IFI be taking a closer look and maybe changing the laws? If the mandate of the IFI is to conserve and protect sea trout, then the figures would suggest at least a conversation about the sea trout numbers should be considered? In Waterville Sea Trout stocks have also plummeted and it is now permitted to kill Sea Trout there. 

River Maine Sea trout, June 2018

On researching Sea Trout I found something very interesting, a report done by University Collage Cork in 2020. Here is the link for it : -

Rising Water Temperatures affecting sea trout

Here is the link for the newspaper article about the publication : -

Irish Examiner Sea Trout

So basically, the research was done in Connemara, in Killary harbour which drains the Errif river. A state owned river. The research was to see why the drop in sea trout numbers! Their conclusion was that lack of food and rising water temperatures was the problem. The publication stated that sea trout were inclined to stay in the Errif and surrounding rivers because of rising water temperatures! On looking at google maps I could see that in the middle of the harbour was a huge salmon farm! Now just because I am not a scientist or a bought off employee, logic should have come into play and we could have saved the state a lot of money without doing the research. The reason why sea trout are not going to sea in Killary is because when they try, unfortunately they are met by billions of sea lice, within the harbour. That's just the reality. This publication was bought and paid for by the Salmon Farming industry and the media outlet that put this nonsense report to print was also bought. That is just my opinion, I hope I am wrong. 

Sea Trout with Net Mark, Brown Flesk 2016

Sea Trout Number River Maine