Derry angler Gerry Quinn reports a relative abundance of salmon running the Faughan this year

Gerry Quinn, of the River Faughan Anglers, confirmed a combination of conservation measures and a wet July had helped facilitate a resurgence.

This is something that’s been reported by angling groups across the country.

“There has been an encouraging run of summer salmon on local rivers this year, with many anglers enjoying the kind of sport they remembered from years gone by.

“On the Bann the July run equated to about 1000 per day, on the Faughan it was more like 1000 per week.

“There would appear to be a lull in the run of salmon now. Hopefully there’s more to come, but with plenty of rain to get them into the headwaters it should be a good spawning season,” said Mr. Quinn.

Noel Carr, from the Federation of Irish Salmon and Sea Trout Anglers, has suggested measures to reduce the harvesting of salmon from their north Atlantic feeding grounds have helped facilitate the come back.

Mr. Quinn agreed: “For many years salmon management has been predicated on the notion that young salmon migrating to feeding grounds in the Faroes or Greenland were somehow becoming ‘lost at sea’ and/or they had difficulty in feeding on their normal prey because of climate change.

“The evidence of this year would suggest otherwise. The fish are well made, fat even, and there’s a relative abundance.

“It would seem that rather than the young fish getting lost or starving at sea the adult salmon were being harvested in the Atlantic ocean before they made it home.

“It is suddenly so obvious that it’s really odd none of those spending years at sea studying salmon actually copped on.

“The strong run of salmon coincides with the Loughs Agency’s drastic reduction in the allocation of carcass tags, meaning local anglers can take only two apiece. “