Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)

I thank Deputy Connolly for raising this issue. I know of his great interest in the angling sector. He is passionate about this issue and it is very close to his heart. He has had a number of discussions with me about angling, generally. I must begin by putting on the record that operational matters such as this are the preserve of IFI. I have no direct capacity to force it to do anything other than follow its duties. It does not fall to the Minister in this regard. I have been in discussion with IFI to try to understand more fully and clearly what the issue is. I understand that in July of this year, IFI notified the Department that a board decision had been taken to cease the operations of the Cong salmon hatchery in north Galway. The hatchery is a complex of buildings, ponds and a rearing station owned and operated by IFI. For many years, the hatchery has produced salmon smolts for release into the Corrib and Erriff catchments, initially to address declining stocks, as the Deputy identified, following a disease outbreak, and later to support research around salmon return rates and sea lice, and angling for Atlantic salmon.

Together with officials, I have liaised with IFI on the decision to close the Cong salmon hatchery. IFI has indicated to me that it no longer has any requirement for access to what it refers to as ranched smolts. Moreover, and I think this is the important piece, there are some scientific concerns regarding the impact of ranched salmon being released into a special area of conservation and the potential negative impact on wild populations of Atlantic salmon. There is no longer a research requirement within IFI to produce smolts. According to international evidence-based guidelines from the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization, NASCO, there is no conservation basis for the farmed production of smolts, given the status of wild salmon populations in the Corrib and Erriff catchments. It follows that there is no benefit to wild salmon populations from the release of ranched smolts into those systems.

The presence of ranched fish can result in interbreeding with wild salmon, which are genetically unique to each system. This has a range of well-known risks to the wild stock as outlined by NASCO, which has advised:

Risks associated with stocking have been well documented and largely result from the relaxation of natural selection and the impacts of domestication leading to maladaptation and reduced individual fitness. In some cases, stocking has been linked to declines in wild population productivity and reduced wild fish individual fitness.

The scientifically accepted view indicates that human interference in the mating selection has the risk of affecting the fitness of the offspring. Both the Erriff and Corrib catchments have sizeable stocks of wild salmon to meet their natural reproductive capacity and do not require supplementation with the hatchery stock.

Research advice details that the Corrib wild Atlantic salmon stock was assessed as being above its conservation limit in all years since 2007, as has the Erriff, with the exception of 2025, when it was assessed as marginally below that limit. On the basis of international best practice, as reflected in the NASCO guidelines, salmon ranching was therefore not advised in either catchment to supplement the wild salmon populations. Even for degraded wild populations, stocking of ranched smolts from hatcheries in general is not advised in rivers where the wild stock has the potential to naturally rehabilitate.

A decision was sought from the board of IFI as to the continued production of smolts from 2026 onwards. At its meeting on 30 June, the board, in consideration of all the facts outlined, took the decision to cease production of ranched salmon smolts at Cong hatchery and their release into the Erriff and Corrib catchments. Returning adult ranched salmon shall continue to be removed and recorded for several more years until returns cease for the Erriff and Corrib catchments. Clearly, this stands as an evidence-based decision on the part of IFI, carrying out due diligence across scientific, environmental and conservation grounds. I trust the Deputy will appreciate the rationale based on those decisions. It is a complex issue which anglers are not entirely happy with. I have to put on record the basis for it.

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