Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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519. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the status of the salmon angling quota for a group (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6797/18]

Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) is the state agency responsible for the protection, management and conservation of Ireland's inland fisheries and sea angling resources.  IFI manages salmon stocks on an individual river basis as each of Ireland’s 147 salmon rivers (including river sections and estuaries) has its own genetically unique stock of salmon. IFI is supported in its management role by scientific advice from the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES) and by Ireland’s independent Standing Scientific Committee (SSC), comprising scientists from a range of organisations. Scientific and management assessments of each of the distinct stocks, including the River Roughty, are carried out every year with IFI engaged in extensive stock monitoring which feeds into the scientific committee's annual reviews.

The SSC estimates the number of salmon likely to return to each river in the next fishing season based on estimates of salmon runs over the most recent five years.  Robust annual estimates are based on an average of the data over the most recent five years to ensure that a "good" or "bad" year in terms of salmon returns does not disproportionately impact assessments.

Each river has an individual conservation limit, which is essentially the number of salmon required to spawn to maintain a healthy population. If the estimate of returning salmon is sufficiently above this limit then salmon from that genetically unique river population may be harvested commercially or by rod and line.

The conservation limit for the Roughty is 1,539 salmon.  After the normal risk analysis was applied for the 2018 season, the Roughty is calculated to have a surplus of 116 salmon. This figure is not considered sufficient to support a harvest fishery via rod and line and/or commercial activity without compromising the conservation imperative

The estimate of expected returns to, and the estimated surplus available on, the Roughty  over the five year period 2014-2018 is set out in the following table.