Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I wish to be clear as well about what I said. I did not say that fishing on the River Boyne had ceased; I said that the objective evidence from what I have seen and heard from local fishermen in many respects indicates that fishing on the River Boyne has all but ceased in recent years. The level of activity is certainly not the same as it used to be. That is understandable given the catch-and-release policy.

Essentially, what Deputy Hannigan and I suggest is that the policy would be further reviewed and that IFI would continue to work on a partnership basis with local anglers to try to achieve the best possible outcome from a conservation point of view, which is extremely important, and also from the point of view of fishermen, current and future, who wish to engage in angling and to see a situation where they can at least aspire to having a catch-and-keep system.

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