This is a question we really have to ask ourselves? Are we really concerned about Salmon stocks here in Ireland. For me the reason rivers in Ireland are so much better than say rivers in France, is only because we have wild runs of Salmon. In the recent Oireachtas IFI debate in the Dail, the IFI chief started his talk with this fact, in the 1970's Ireland had 2.2 million salmon returning to its rivers, in 2022 170,000 returned. Now we can put this on the long finger and say we have no salmon left because of outside influences. I do not agree with that because the main reason we have very little Salmon left is because we keep killing them. I have killed quite a few myself. Recently I have been applying for different freedom of information requests. In one of these I asked the IFI if they could explain why in 2022 on the TEEGOS report they have 950 salmon caught and released on the river Laune? I asked the same of the river Maine. In both rivers we can see a 1000% increase in c&r figures. Here is part of the answer i got back by email from Sean Long of the IFI. The first part is my question to the IFI.
"Also it states in the same report that not only should the VERIFIED fish counter results conclude the conservation status figure but also catch records. In 2022 there was a 1000% increase in C&R numbers. How is this possible when the commercial catch records were well down?
As mentioned above, counter data is only one part of the overall data set used by TEGOS annually. Angler returns and Commercial catches cannot be directly compared, given the nature of both activities, the respective effort and limitations. The commercial sector operating in Castlemaine caught 82% of the TAC for that year, a shortfall of 119 salmon. However, effort in the second last week of the season was minimal, as fishing was suspended following the tragic death of a local fisherman. The average catch in the 2-week period prior to the suspension and in the week immediately afterwards was 135 fish, therefore it is evident that the commercial sector could have filled the TAC for the year."
So the reason for the 1000% increase is because netting was suspended for 2 weeks, an average catch was taken and added into the recreational c&r data. Now adding something into a government document as c&r and it not being that I would think would be illegal? I'm sick of all this to be quite honest. In my opnion people just want to kill fish. I do not think the people in charge care either. I have for the third time been refused evidence of the fish count on the river Maine fish counter for 2018. How can anybody look at those figures from 2018 and stand by them. 1400 spring Salmon on the Maine?! How can the TEEGOS scientific group not ask questions on an increase in Salmon numbers of 1000% for both the Maine and the Laune? How much are taxpayers paying these people for accurate data and getting figures like these. TEEGOS are in charge of conservation limits the data is of extreme importance! But yet again nobody cares!
