EU confirms Ireland will end drift netting for Salmon.

“Ireland has given a firm commitment to meet scientific advice in 2007
which means that fisheries will only take place in estuaries and rivers
on stocks which have been shown to be above their conservation limit”
- the head of the EU delegation, Mr Alan Gray told the annual meeting of the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organisation
held in Saariselka, Finland on Thursday, 8 June.  The statement was included in the official record of the meeting.

Commenting on the announcement, Niall Greene, chair of Stop Salmon Drift Nets Now said that:

“We welcome this further affirmation of the Irish government’s intention to end drift netting
at the conclusion of the current season. 
The 2006 report of the Standing Scientific Committee of the National Salmon Commission
has made it clear that the continuation of mixed stock fishing (drift netting and some draft netting)
is incompatible with a science based approach to the management of our salmon stocks. 
Taken together with the need to respect Ireland’s obligations
to  manage our salmon stocks in accordance with the terms of the EU Habitats’ Directive,
this latest statement from the EU is of particular significance”.

NASCO is an intergovernmental organisation comprising all countries in the North Atlantic area which have significant salmon populations.  It has developed standards for the management of salmon and monitors the status of stocks.  At its meeting in Finland, the organisation adopted a new approach to multi-annual national plans for implementing its agreements which involves each government reporting publicly on the outcome of its efforts.  In addition, NASCO confirmed its commitment to the SALSEA project which is designed to establish the causes of increasing mortality rates among salmon at sea.

Dr Ken Whelan of Ireland’s Marine Institute was reelected chairman of NASCO for a further two years.  In addition to Irish government representatives attending as part of the EU delegation Ireland was resented in the NGO delegation by Noel Carr of the Federation of Irish Salmon and Seatrout Anglers, Paddy Byrne of the National Anglers Representational Association and Niall Greene of Stop Salmon Drift Nets Now.