Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Green Party)
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Question 657: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if he will request the Fisheries Board to explain the reason it is unwilling to match the 80,000 fry put into the River Liffey by a club (details supplied) with other fry, in view of the fact that stocks are available at its facility in Limerick and that there is no longer an indigenous Liffey salmon identifiable due to cross-breeding between earlier salmon introduced to the river from other parts of Ireland and from Scotland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4995/08]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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I am advised by the Eastern Regional Fisheries Board that the best way of improving salmon runs according to scientific advice is by native recruitment and not by sourcing artificially reared salmon. The available evidence from fish counters indicates that there is a self-sustaining population of salmon in the River Liffey. The Marine Institute believe that while the exact genetic lineage is unknown at present, it is most likely that this is similar to the original wild population before any hatchery intervention occurred. To protect this natural spawning stock, I understand it is imperative that stocking with non-indigenous material is not carried out because this has the potential to undermine the genetic integrity of this viable population.

The Liffey population is currently small and below its Conservation Limit, due to several factors including poor water quality, by-catch of salmon in mixed stock fisheries and passage difficulties. The scientific advice is to allow time for the initiatives being pursued to address these impacts to succeed before resorting to potentially harmful hatchery based interventions as these are likely to impede natural population recovery.