Rod fishing for salmon on the Moy has been an economic mainstay for Ballina but catch numbers have been falling for decades and have declined steeply in recent years
Fishing is not widely regarded as a spectator sport these days. But there’s a stretch of the Moy river in Ballina, Co Mayo , known as the ridge pool, where local man Pappy Forde can remember hundreds of people regularly lining up on each side to follow the “great battle” between angler and hooked fish, which could last for half an hour.
But even then Howley, who Moy fishery manager Barry Kelly says “knows every stone in that river”, and the other staff, were encouraging conservation among their clients. Dr Gallagher told the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee that wild salmon numbers returning to Ireland had dropped from 1.76 million in 1975 to just 171,700 in 2022, a decline of more than 90 per cent.Forde, who in the past acted as ghillie for Emlyn Hughes, the former England and Liverpool captain, remembers years when he caught up to 100 salmon “but you’d only keep what you’d need for the table”. Last year he caught three.
“It is no one thing but our biggest concern at the moment is marine survival,” he says. Juvenile salmon leave the Irish rivers where they were spawned in April or May, going out to sea as maybe 15cm fish to spend one to three years feeding in the North Atlantic. “It could be anything like an apron on a bridge that causes a barrier. If not blocking then significantly impeding migration so that it is possible only at certain water levels,” says Kelly. Even this temporary trapping of a large volume of fish in a pool downstream can lead to protection issues, making the salmon very vulnerable to poachers.The ridge pool at Upper Bridge in Ballina, with fisherman Michael Rooney from Belfast and, in the background, a mural of Jack Charlton.
Pollution and restoration of river habitats continue to preoccupy IFI staff. Cooke says a lot of gravel and stone, which salmon need to spawn and to hide, was removed during big drainage works in an attempt to improve agricultural land. He and his colleagues are trying to recreate these habitats “in a pattern we hope is reflective of nature”.
Ireland Latest News, Ireland Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Supper Club: Hot-smoked salmon rice and asparagus saladHot-smoked salmon is like poached salmon but with a smoky flavour – perfect for salads.
Read more »
This Slow Roasted Salmon Is Perfect For A Nourishing SupperOnline
Read more »
Four men convicted of illegal salmon angling offences in Co SligoOne man wore a wetsuit and snorkel to swim to an offshore net to capture salmon
Read more »
Rod Stewart shares an update on he and his wife's Dublin apartmentThe legendary rocker and his wife purchased a swanky pad in a development in Dublin 4, and are excited to be able to spend more time in it now that it has been kitted out
Read more »
Irish salmon population down by 90%The population of Irish salmon has dropped by a “drastic” 90% over the past five decades.
Read more »
‘Catastrophic decline’ in numbers of wild salmon returning to IrelandInland Fisheries Ireland to spend €110 million on removing barriers to fish
Read more »