Michael Harty (Clare, Independent)
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423. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if he will alleviate the concerns of west Clare anglers who are of the view that County Clare is the only coastal county in which salmon rivers are still closed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38652/16]

Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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Ireland manages salmon stocks on an individual river basis. This management is carried out by Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI), the State Agency with statutory responsibility for inland fisheries.

Management is based on the fact that each of Ireland’s 147 salmon rivers, sections of rivers etc., has its own unique stock of salmon which migrates to sea as juveniles and returns to the same river in adulthood to spawn and create the next generation of fish exclusive to that river. Each individual stock is assessed annually and those fisheries meeting their individual conservation limit may be opened to harvest.

IFI is advised by the Standing Scientific Committee for Salmon (SSC) comprising scientists from IFI, the Marine Institute, the Loughs Agency, the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (Northern Ireland) other State bodies and third level institutions.

The underlying primary consideration is the health of the individual stocks, regardless of geographic location of the home river. However, fishing opportunities in the wider Shannon Fisheries District were available in 2016.

The conservation imperative demands that great care must be taken to ensure that the current salmon stocks are not further eroded by mismanagement or inappropriate exploitation, whether that is via angling, commercial fisheries in rivers or through the operation of mixed stock fisheries in estuaries.

The annual Wild Salmon and Sea Trout Tagging Scheme Regulations, made pursuant to Sections 69 of the Inland Fisheries Act 2010, provide for the annual management of Ireland's wild salmon and sea trout fishery by IFI. These Regulations are revised on an annual basis, taking account of advice from IFI, the annual assessment of the SSC and any submissions received from a 30 day public consultation for the following season. I have already commenced the 30 day public consultation for the 2017 Regulations.

A copy of the draft regulations, is available on the Department’s website, www.dccae.gov.ie, and is open for public inspection at the offices of the Department in Cavan and also at the offices of Inland Fisheries Ireland. Any person may submit observations on the draft regulations during the consultation period which concludes on 11 December, 2016.