Anglers vow to resist any more restrictions

That’s according to Gerry Quinn, from the River Faughan Anglers, who said the limit of two summer salmon a season was already too much.

Mr. Quinn recently confirmed there had been an abundance of salmon running this season with a thousand a week in the Faughan at peak.

He is concerned by a stern warning from the Loughs Agency calling on anglers to take ‘immediate steps to ensure sustainability of the fisheries of Foyle and Carlingford.’

The agency, citing The State of the Salmon report published by the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organisation, said there was a worrying decline of salmon that must be arrested.

“There are various pressure points, many of which are combined or interconnected during the life cycle of salmonids, with the actions of mankind very much a common thread,” it stated.

It said anglers needed to increase catch-and-release levels, improve catch logging on its e-licence site and take no more than three fish a year: one in spring, two in summer.

But Mr. Quinn responded: “Salmon are subject to many factors which have forced their numbers into a decline across the hemisphere in my lifetime.

“These include pollution, caused in large part by farmers, the water industry, and forestry operations, excessive water abstraction, inappropriate development, and poaching.”

Mr Quinn said anglers take some fish, but the impact on salmon stocks from angling is negligible compared to commercial harvesting of fish.

“It’s easy to blame anglers, when the problems are more difficult to control,” he said, adding:

“Anglers have been playing their part, not least by releasing a growing proportion of their catch. However it’s commonly held that the introduction of a reduction in (black) carcass tags from 20 down to 2, without any legislation to back it up is merely the prelude to more drastic changes, to the point where catch and release becomes compulsory.

“River Faughan Anglers will oppose this, if and when it’s mooted.”