Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

171. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if a bye law can be amended to ensure that all persons are treated the same (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15013/23]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Salmon fisheries In Ireland are managed on an individual river basis as each of Ireland’s more than 140 salmon rivers has a genetically unique stock particular to that river.

In December last, I enacted the Wild Salmon and Sea Trout Tagging Regulations for 2023 which came into operation on 1 January and set out, inter alia, the status of each of Ireland‘s more than 140 salmon rivers as open, open to catch and release or closed to harvest.

These regulations are based on the annual management advice of Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) supported by independent annual scientific assessments by the Technical Expert Group on Salmon (TEGOS) of each river stock.

I have also recently enacted the Control of Fishing for Salmon Order for 2023 which provides for general regulation of commercial fishing activity from the opening of the season in May 2023.

This Order is accompanied, every year, by the annual Conservation of Salmon and Sea Trout (Draft Nets and Snap Nets) Bye-law which sets out the opening and closing dates and times for the individual fisheries.

To safeguard stocks, the Bye-law contains a general prohibition on the use of monofilament and multi-strand nets, in the context of conservation imperatives guided by management and scientific advice. This prohibition applies to all fisheries with two exceptions, in place for a number of years, and also based on the management advice and scientific assessments of rivers referred to above. Removing the prohibition on a wider scale would be detrimental to the relevant fish stocks and therefore irresponsible.