Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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619. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the studies which have been carried out by Inland Fisheries Ireland into the mortality and survival rates of wild Atlantic salmon in catch and release angling; the average mortality and survival rates of wild Atlantic salmon caught and released on each river basin; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32394/17]

Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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Staff of Inland Fisheries Ireland and others published a paper in 2015 in the Fisheries Research journal on a study that looked at the survival of wild Atlantic salmon after catch and release in three rivers in Ireland. The study necessitated the capture and tagging of 76 fish over the course of the programme, and from the subsequent recapture it was evident that 98% of the salmon caught by fly fishing had survived while only 55% of the fish caught on a lure survived. From this, it is clear that fly fishing on a catch and release river only adds a small additional mortality threat to the stock, provided the fish are released properly and carefully.