Dan Neville (Limerick West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 247: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if he will make a statement on a matter (details supplied). [26713/09]

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The harvest of wild salmon by commercial and recreational means is only permitted in those rivers that are meeting their conservation limits and which have an identified surplus. Based on scientific advice, the Conservation of Salmon and Sea Trout Bye-law No. CS 301, 2008, provides that the River Maigue is closed for salmon fishing as it is not meeting its conservation limit. The decline in salmon stocks is due to a number of factors including continuing deterioration in marine survival, overfishing in the past, poor water quality and river habitat damage.

The Shannon Regional Fisheries Board (ShRFB), together with other agencies and stakeholders, continue to work together to address the in-river issues. I understand that a notable improvement in water quality in the catchment, on foot of monitoring and enforcement by the ShRFB and local authorities, allows the agencies to advance with confidence, a major programme of works to rehabilitate damaged habitat and to repair the infrastructure of the river.

Catchment-wide surveys to ascertain the status of stocks in the system over the coming years, together with a newly refurbished fish counter, will provide detailed information to assess whether the numbers of salmon entering the river are increasing. The ShRFB is confident that all of these ongoing initiatives will increase salmon numbers in the Maigue in the future.