Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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It was proposed at the ACCI meeting held on 25 July 2022 that the next meeting of ACCI would be convened in September 2022.

In the intervening period, ACCI had made a request for support funding to be made available to ACCI members and, in light of same, it was agreed to hold the next meeting of ACCI after the Estimates and Budgetary processes were completed.

The intention was to reconvene ACCI meetings in Q1 2023. Once funding was secured by the Inland Fisheries Division and confirmed in mid Q1, a meeting was convened in March 2023 based on the availability of ACCI members and officials from the Inland Fisheries Division and inland Fisheries Ireland.

Further ACCI meetings were held in May and June 2023 and the next meeting is proposed for July 2023.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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Bye-Law No. 840 of 2008 (Conservation of Trout in Western Lakes) specifically addresses the concerns received by the then Western Regional Fisheries Board (WRFB) from angling stakeholders regarding the over-exploitation of trout in the Western Lakes and its tributaries.

At that time, conservation measures had been introduced to limit the number and size of fish of other species that could be caught, nationally or locally but trout was not afforded similar protection and remained vulnerable to human over-exploitation.

To ascertain specific angler concerns regarding the over-exploitation of trout, including ferox trout (which are genetically unique), the WRFB undertook a consultation process to underpin the drafting of a suite of Bye-Laws aimed at prohibiting a range of angling practices, prevalent in the region at that time, which were inconsistent with conservation.

Specific concerns emerged during consultation regarding the practice of fishing with multiple rods at any one time, particularly in the early season on spawning tributaries where mounted rods were often left unattended and spread over a long area of the shoreline. This practice resulted in unseasonable and undersize fish being easily caught and killed.

Trolling with multiple rods was also a significant angler concern where boats with up to five rods were trolling at any one time. The recommendation to limit the number of rods allowed to be in use by an angler when trolling, bait fishing or spinning and to limit the number of rods to have on board a boat when trolling or spinning in specified waters harmonised the legislation across a range of species.

Bye-Law No. 840 of 2008 (Trout), prohibits any person to use at any one time more than 2 rods or more than 4 artificial flies per rod when trolling and prohibits any individual to have on board any boat more than 3 mounted rods when bait fishing, spinning or trolling in the specified waters. The Bye-law was introduced to address angler concerns regarding Trout.