A Report to Minister for State at the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, John Browne T.D.

Transcription

1 Salmo REPORT OF THE Group INDEPENDENT Established to Examie the Implicatios of Aligmet with the Scietific Advice for the Commercial Salmo Fishig Sector i 2007 ad Beyod A Report to Miister for State at the Departmet of Commuicatios, Marie ad Natural Resources, Joh Browe T.D. Prof. Tom Collis, Mr Joh Maloe, Mr Padraic White OCTOBER 2006

2 Executive Summary Established i March 2006, the specific remit of the Idepedet Salmo Group is to advise the Govermet of the implicatios of fully aligig with the scietific advice i 2007 ad i particular the hardship that may arise for idividuals i coastal commuities; to determie the scale of fiacial loss which will be experieced as a result of ay measures imposed o the commercial salmo fishery; to make recommedatios, if appropriate, to address ay fiacial hardship experieced; to cosider the extet to which those stakeholders, who would be the mai ecoomic beeficiaries of more salmo beig retured to the rivers, should cotribute to ay scheme, whether i cash or i kid (icludig improved tourist access); ad, to determie the implicatios for the aglig sector. I additio the Idepedet Group was free to advise the Miister o ay aspects of the commercial salmo fishig sector that i its view merits commet. The Group sought guidace ad advice from a wide rage of state agecies ad other statutory bodies icludig the Marie Istitute, the Cetral Fisheries Board, the Natioal Fisheries Maagers Executive ad Bord Iascaigh Mhara ad udertook a direct cosultatio process meetig with 87 idividuals represetig 46 differet agecies, orgaisatios, groups, as well as idividual stakeholders. The Group received 64 writte submissios ad reviewed the may reports geerated through the Natioal Salmo Commissio ad its Stadig Scietific Committee, the Natioal Fisheries Maagemet Executive, ad available publicatios dealig with related issues from a wide rage of sources. The Group also traveled o three occasios to meet directly with salmo fisherme. The status of salmo stocks i Irelad ad elsewhere is well documeted ad it is evidet that these have declied i the years sice a historic high i the mid-seveties. Estimated returs to the coast are curretly the lowest o record for the past 35 years ad the Stadig Scietific Committee estimates that, compared to the 1970 s, there are ow less tha a third of the fish returig aually. The fact that salmo stocks i may coutries borderig the North Atlatic are affected suggests that a wide rage of factors are cotributig to the declie. Reflectig these treds i stock abudace, coservatio measures have bee itroduced progressively over the past decade pricipally targeted at reducig the fishig effort associated with commercial fishig. However the 2006 report of the Stadig Scietific Committee cofirms that despite recet reduced exploitatio, may stocks are still fallig well below their coservatio limit. The Stadig Scietific Committee has provided advice o a umber of key issues i relatio to maagemet of the salmo resource. The overall exploitatio i most districts should immediately decrease, so that coservatio limits ca be cosistetly met. Furthermore, due to the differet status of idividual stocks withi the stock complex, mixed stock fisheries (MSF) preset particular threats to the status of idividual stocks. Thus, the most precautioary way to meet atioal ad iteratioal objectives is to operate fisheries o idividual river stocks that are show to be withi precautioary limits i.e. those stocks which are exceedig their coservatio limits. Fisheries operated i estuaries ad rivers are more likely to fulfill these requiremets. Defied by North Atlatic Salmo Coservatio Orgaisatio (NASCO) as ay fishery exploitig a sigificat umber of salmo from two or more river stocks, mixed stock fisheries ad particularly at-sea drift-et fishig has bee REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT SALMON GROUP

3 the focus of much cocer recetly. The Marie Istitute has idetified the iterceptory effects of these mixed stock fisheries by taggig ad releasig salmo i river systems ad later moitorig where the tagged salmo are caught. The evidece idicates that salmo from may rivers (some with low levels of coservatio limit attaimet) are subject to iterceptio by drift-ets at distat locatios aroud the Irish coast. At successive meetigs of NASCO Irelad has come uder pressure to comply with iteratioal best practice ad to elimiate idiscrimiate mixed stock fishig at sea. I this regard certai commitmets have bee give by Irelad at the 2006 meetig of NASCO. The Europea Commissio has also take the view that by allowig drift-ettig for salmo to cotiue i 2006, Irelad disregarded the scietific advice of the Stadig Scietific Committee. I their reasoed opiio delivered i July 2006, the Commissio has stated that to avoid further ifrigemets cases Irelad must comply with this directive (the habitats directive) ad eschew drift-ettig (MSF) i I 2006 the Stadig Scietific Committee advised that the best way to meet atioal ad iteratioal objectives of meetig coservatio limits i all salmo rivers was to oly allow fisheries i estuaries ad rivers as there was a greater probability that these would oly be targetig sigle stocks. The SSC also advised that fisheries should oly take place o stocks that were meetig their coservatio limit. The SSC further oted real cocers relatig to factors causig mortality at sea such as predatio by seals, diseases ad parasites, marie pollutio etc. Clearly, more directed ivestigatios eed to be carried out o these other factors. Direct Implicatios of Aligig with the Scietific Ad vice 1. Natioal maagemet of wild salmo should be based o the idividual river as the fudametal uit of maagemet. 2. Harvestig should be permitted oly o stocks that are classified by the SSC as meetig their coservatio limits. 3. Harvestig should be maaged i such a way that the quatity fish harvested does ot exceed the surplus specified i the aual report of the SSC. 4. There will be o mixed stock fishery permitted at sea from This implies a complete cessatio of drift-et fishig or ay other form of harvestig outside rivers ad estuaries. 5. The harvestig of salmo will oly be allowed i rivers that have a idetifiable surplus. 6. The harvestig of salmo will be prohibited i rivers which do ot have a idetifiable surplus. 7. Based o the precautioary approach, harvestig of salmo will be prohibited i rivers that curretly have iadequate iformatio to allow a appropriate assessmet or where the average rod catch is less tha 10 salmo per aum. 8. I the regio of 68,000 fish that might otherwise have bee take i at-sea drift-et fishery i 2007 are available for redistributio to their atal rivers. 9. As a cosequece of the redistributio of the foregoe at-sea drift-et catch up to 10 rivers, which would otherwise ot meet their coservatio limit i 2007, will ow have a surplus over the coservatio limit requiremet. ii REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT SALMON GROUP

4 10. As a cosequece of the redistributio of the foregoe at-sea drift-et catch, i the regio of 40,000 additioal fish will be available for harvestig i rivers that have a idetifiable surplus. (This ew surplus is i additio to the surplus that would have bee available i these rivers had the at-sea drift-et fishery cotiued). 11. As a cosequece of the redistributio of the foregoe at-sea drift-et catch, i the regio of 28,000 fish will retur to rivers that will cotiue to be below their coservatio limits after redistributio. Implicatios of the Ne w Surplus The maagemet ad allocatio of ay ew surplus provides a sigificat opportuity to address the demads of various competig sectoral harvesters icludig, recreatioal fisherme, domestic ad iteratioal aglig tourism developmet, private fishery owers, fish processors, ad et fisherme i rivers i estuaries. As the ew surplus will be the result of maagemet chages itroduced i 2007 ad beyod, there ca be o a priori claim to these fish. We came to the coclusio that the redistributio of this ew surplus is a critical issue which will have cosequeces across a umber of headigs, icludig maagemet, allocatio betwee differet stakeholders ad, depedig o that allocatio, alleviatio of hardship. Ay model for the allocatio of this surplus should: 1. Be predicated o the assumptio that this is a public good. 2. Recogise the case of groups such as processors, restaurateurs ad retailers, who have traditioally accessed wild salmo from the commercial sector, for a cotiued source of supply. 3. Accommodate the iterests of the tourism sector, give the potetial of iteratioal aglig. It is possible to devise models for allocatig the surplus either at a regioal or atioal basis. Regardless of the model chose, chages to the curret legislatio will be required to permit the sale of rod caught fish, as was the case prior to Give that this surplus is a public good, it seems reasoable that the beeficiaries should make a proportioate paymet. The icome the state derives from such paymets could productively be used to ehace the maagemet ad developmet of the salmo resource at a idividual river level. Implicatios for Salmo Maagemet There will be specific implicatio for the fishery maagers i relatio to: 1. River based maagemet; 2. Coservatio limits; 3. Mixed stock fisheries i rivers ad estuaries; REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT SALMON GROUP iii

5 4. Maagemet Iformatio systems; 5. Stock rebuildig programmes; 6. Cotrol ad Eforcemet; 7. Research; 8. Water Quality ad physical coditios; 9. Icreased pressure o other species. Implicatios for Commercial Fisherme 1. Fisheries at sea: There will be o fishig permitted at sea from This implies a complete cessatio of driftet fishig or ay other form of harvestig outside rivers ad estuaries. 2. Mixed Stock Fisheries i rivers ad estuaries: Mixed Stock Fisheries i estuaries or freshwater will be prohibited where ay compoet of the mixed stock is ot meetig its coservatio limit. 3. Rivers ot meetig their Coservatio Limits: All fishig will be prohibited o rivers that are curretly ot meetig their coservatio limits. 4. Icreased availability of fish: Additioal surplus will be available i a umber of rivers ad estuaries. Additioal opportuities will arise i the cotext of the distributio of ew surplus. Implicatios for Recreatioal Fisherme 1. Fisheries i rivers ad estuaries: Sigle stock fishig will be allowed oly where rivers meet their coservatio limits. 2. Rivers ot meetig their Coservatio Limits: All fishig will be prohibited o rivers that are curretly ot meetig their coservatio limits. 3. Mixed Stock Fisheries: Mixed Stock fisheries for salmo i rivers or estuaries will be prohibited where ay compoet of the mixed stock is ot meetig its coservatio limit. 4. Catch & Release: There will be geeral presumptio agaist the use of catch-ad-release as a fishig method o stocks classified as ot meetig their coservatio limits. iv REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT SALMON GROUP

6 Implicatios for Processor s, Retailer s, Restaurateur s For the processig sector it is evidet that the mai traditioal chaels of supply will cease. Also the total commercial harvest of wild salmo will be less tha that available heretofore. Various optios for the allocatio of ay ew surplus are suggested, ad depedig o the maagemet decisios take i this respect, the impact o this sector ca be mitigated. Implicatios for Aglig Tourism Fáilte Irelad has ambitious plas for this sector that are cotiget upo successfully rebuildig stocks. Give that a key impact of the ew maagemet regime proposed will be to geerate additioal harvestable surplus i certai rivers, the, depedig o the maagemet decisios take i regard to the ew surplus, it should be possible to ehace the potetial of the tourist sector. I the loger term the objective should be to develop Irelad as a sustaiable ad competitive iteratioal aglig destiatio, based o the recovery ad growth of the atioal salmo resource. The success of this strategy will be depedet o ehaced access for tourist aglers. It was ot apparet to us that this is curretly the case. Scale of Fiacial Loss i The Commercial Sector There are a large umber of salmo drift-et fisherme (584 or two-thirds of the total) who caught less tha 100 fish ad who eared less tha _3,300 from this activity i Of the remaider, 119 eared more tha _15,000 i The total catch by drift-ettig has falle sharply i recet years, ad the total catch i 2005 is oly slightly more tha half (51%) what it was i The scietific advice available to us is that fallig productivity is the mai driver of chage, ad that all else beig equal catches would probably have falle sharply eve i the absece of a TAC based maagemet regime. Nor is there ay evidece of this tred chagig i the immediate future. Though locally importat fewer tha 1 i 15 draft-et fisherme/teams curretly catch more tha 100 fish per aum, while over 50% of licece holders catch less tha 20. Give that the majority of draft-et teams umber three me it caot, for the majority of participats, be regarded as a sigificat source of icome. There are a large umber of salmo draft-et fisherme/teams ( ) for whom aual salmo fishig represets but a modest source of icome, ad probably o more, o average, tha _1,000 per team i I 2005 some 33 licesed draft-et fisherme/teams recorded catches i excess of 100 fish each. Oe fisherma/team recorded betwee 500 ad 1,000 fish ad oe recorded a catch i excess of 1,000 fish. For these fisherme salmo makes up a modest portio of their curret aual icome (>_5,000 o average). For the 2 exceptioal licece holders with catches greater that 500 fish, salmo fishig makes up a sigificat portio of their curret aual icome (>_20,000 ad >_40,000 respectively). REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT SALMON GROUP v

7 As with drift-ettig, it is clear that the total catch by draft-et fisherme has falle sharply i recet years. The total catch i 2005 (16,735) is oly slightly more tha half (54%) what it was i 2001 (30,861). Traditioal fishig usig head-weir traps, loop-ets, bag-ets, ad sap-ets curretly accouts for less tha 3% of the aual salmo catch i Irelad. Eve the largest of these, the sap-et fishery, probably accouts for fewer tha 2,500 fish aually (average value over the period , _57,000). Give the umber of participats i relatio to the catch it is clear that i o case does the catch represet ay more tha a very small part of the aual icome of the licece holder. There are, however, strog traditios associated with these very old, ad culturally distict fisheries. Addressig Fiacial Hardship Recommedatios We are proposig that: 1. A total fud of _30 millio is established to address hardship. 2. We recommed that the fud be allocated o the followig basis: The fud is available to all those subject to a compulsory closure of their curret fishery, amely the holders of drift-et liceces. The fud is available, o a volutary basis, to all those egaged i draft-et, loop-et, bag-et, sap-et, ad head-weir fishig. This scheme should be ope up to the ed of The level of paymets should be determied as follows: a. Paymets should be based o the average verifiable (tag retur) catch for each licece holder for the past 5 years ( ). (A) b. Paymets should be based o the average et icome per salmo i the commercial drift ad draft-et fishery for the past 5 years ( ). We estimate this to be _23 per salmo. (B) c. Each idividual licece holder should receive 6 times their average catch (A) multiplied by the average et icome per salmo (B). d. I all cases a paymet equal to 6 times the curret licece fee i respect of each licece surredered will be made. For example, i the case of drift-et fisherme, this equals a paymet of _2,022. I the case of draft-et fisherme participatig i the volutary scheme the paymet will be _1, Give the immediate impact of the ew regime we recommed that paymets uder this scheme should be made i oe istallmet i vi REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT SALMON GROUP

8 5. I every case, those who avail of the direct paymet scheme should be required to: a. Surreder their licece immediately ad permaetly. b. Verifiably decommissio their et(s) ad/or fixed fishig egies to the satisfactio of the competet authority. 6. We estimate that the total fud required for this part of the scheme will be of the order of _25 millio. 7. That a commuity support scheme to a value of _5 millio be established to support the developmet of additioal ecoomic opportuities i commuities affected by the closure of the drift-et fishery. The focus of this measure should primarily be those commuities where drift-et fishig has bee a well established activity ad where its withdrawal demostrably impacts o their ecoomic ad social fabric, e.g. Gaeltacht areas. Those eligible uder this scheme would especially iclude those formerly ivolved i the drift-ettig sector, or, alteratively, where a promoter proposes to employ a sigificat umber of people formerly egaged i drift-ettig. Cotributios to the Hardship Scheme Cotributios I Cash It has bee clearly idicated to the Group that aglers, fishery owers ad the holders of estuarie et liceces should cotribute to the cost of ay hardship scheme itroduced. O that basis we recommed the itroductio of a evirometal or stock rebuildig stamp equivalet to the cost of each licece category. We emphasise that this cotributio be desigated for the purposes of salmo coservatio which is a critical requiremet for a sustaiable recreatioal aglig sector. Cotributios I Kid We recogise that the aglig commuity makes a sigificat cotributio to protectig ad maagig salmo stocks at the idividual river level. This role should be further ehaced ad developed ad should be recogised as a cotributio i kid. Icreased tourist access to rivers is a critical issue for the aglig tourism sector if it is to develop from its curret positio. REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT SALMON GROUP vii

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10 Report Of The Idepedet Salmo Group Professor Tom Collis Professor Tom Collis is Dea of the Faculty of Social Sciece ad Head of Educatio at NUI Mayooth. Prior to takig up his curret positio he was Director of the Dudalk Istitute of Techology. Professor Collis has writte extesively o the theme of participatory developmet ad has bee active i local developmet work for may years. He is a member of the Broadcastig Commissio of Irelad ad is Chairma of the Natioal Rural Water Moitorig Committee ad the Natioal Coucil for Curriculum Assessmet. Joh Maloe Joh Maloe served as Secretary Geeral of the Departmet of Agriculture ad Food from 1997 to Durig his career i that Departmet he occupied a variety of positios ad was cetrally ivolved i the formulatio of agri-food policy, EU egotiatios o the Commo Agricultural Policy as well the WTO Roud. He is a member of the Board of Bord Bia, the Dairygold Co-operative Society Board, ad the Public Service Bechmarkig Body. Padraic White Padraic White served as Chairma of the Natioal Strategy Review Group o the Commo Fisheries Policy from December 1998 util December This Group developed strategies ad policies for the review of the Commo Fisheries Policy. Mr White also chaired the North West Pelagic Task Force i He is the author of the report Decommissioig Requiremets for Irelad s Demersal ad Shellfish Fleets, July 2005, whose recommedatios were accepted by the Govermet: this scheme is curretly beig implemeted i stages. He is the former Maagig Director of the Idustrial Developmet Authority (IDA) ad is the curret Chairma of the Railway Procuremet Agecy. He is also Chairma ad Director of several private compaies. REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT SALMON GROUP

11 Cotets Executive Summary i Glossary 3 Terms of Referece of the Idepedet Salmo Group 5 Foreword 6 1 Scietific backgroud 9 2 Scietific advice 17 3 Implicatios of aligig with the scietific advice 27 4 Scale of fiacial loss i the commercial sector 32 5 Addressig fiacial hardship 35 6 Cotributios to the hardship scheme 37 7 Aex 1: Backgroud to the impact assessmet 40 8 Aex 2: Backgroud to the Precautioary approach 58 9 Appedices 63 REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT SALMON GROUP

12 Glossary Bag-et: A et comprisig a leader stretchig from the shore ad a trap (head) that is held i a fixed positio by achors ad buoys. The trap is chambered, with iward poitig sheets of ettig, kow as i-scales, leadig fish evetually ito the fish court, where they remai free-swimmig util they are removed by the fisherme. The et is also supported by three woode poles, which do ot reach the seabed. The et frame is attached to the bottom ad top of each of the poles to hold it ope vertically. BIM: Bord Iascaigh Mhara CFB: Cetral Fisheries Board CFP: The Commo Fisheries Policy of the Europea Uio. It provides the framework for the maagemet of Fisheries withi the EU. Coservatio: The process of esurig that the abudace of salmo i a stock is maitaied at or above a satisfactory level (i.e. above the coservatio limit with a agreed probability) ad that atural diversity is maitaied. Coservatio Limits (CL): NASCO ad ICES defie the CL as the spawig stock level that produces maximum sustaiable yield. Distat water fisheries: Fisheries i areas outside the jurisdictio of the coutry of origi. Draft-ets: Cosists of a wall of ettig with a weighted foot rope ad floated head rope. Oe ed is held o the shore while the rest is paid out from a boat to eclose a area of water betwee two poits o the shore. The et is the retrieved ad ay fish eclosed draw up oto the shore. Draft-ets ormally operate withi estuaries. Drift-et: A drift-et cosists of a sheet of ettig which hags from a floated head rope to a weighted foot rope ad is desiged to drift with the curret or tide. The legth of ettig used is regulated. ESB: Electricity Supply Board Exploitatio: Ay meas whatsoever by which fish are removed from ay stock ad killed. Grilse: Salmo that have spet from oe year to eightee moths feedig at sea, or 1 sea-witer salmo. Habitats directive: EU coucil directive 92/43/EEC o the coservatio of atural habitats ad of wild flora ad faua. Harvestig: Ay meas whatsoever by which fish are removed from ay stock ad killed. Head-weir fishery: Head-weirs are erected betwee tide marks i such a way as to trap fish o a fallig tide. Home water fisheries: Fisheries withi the jurisdictio of the coutries of origi (withi 12 miles of the baselie). ICES: Iteratioal Coucil for the Exploratio of the Sea. Idex Rivers: A small umber of rivers of differet characteristics selected to be represetative ad reflective of the totality of ilad waterways. REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT SALMON GROUP

13 Loop-et: A curved ladig et fished i deep soft muddy coditios i the Lough Swilly estuary. MI: Marie Istitute. Mixed stock fishery: A fishery exploitig a sigificat umber of salmo from two or more river stocks. Moofilamet Net: Fishig et made from a material cosistig of oe sigle strad of sythetic thread. NASCO: North Atlatic Salmo Coservatio Orgaisatio. NFME: Natioal Fisheries Maagemet Executive. NSC: Natioal Salmo Commissio. Quota: A portio of a total allowable catch (TAC) allocated to a operatig uit, e.g. the draft-et quota. RFB: Regioal Fisheries Board. SSC: Stadig Scietific Committee of the Natioal Salmo Commissio. Sap-ets: Operated withi estuaries i the Waterford ad Lismore districts. The et is fished betwee two small boats or cots each fisherma holdig both the head rope ad lead rope i oe had ad a oar i the other to cotrol the directio of the boat ad keep the et fishig betwee the boats. Fishig agaist the curret i either the ebb or flowig tide, the et forms a bag projectig backwards agaist the tidal flow. A fish strikig the et alerts the fisherme who the sap the lead rope sharply upwards ad over the head rope wrappig the fish i the bag. Sprig Salmo: Multi-sea-witer salmo appearig i rivers from Jauary to May. Stock: A maagemet uit comprisig oe or more salmo populatios. Salmo from separate rivers are referred to as river stocks. Stock Rebuildig Programme (SRP): A SRP is a array of maagemet measures, icludig possibly habitat improvemet, exploitatio cotrol ad stockig, desiged to restore a stock above its coservatio limit. TAC: Total allowable catch. REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT SALMON GROUP

14 Terms of Referece of the Idepedet Salmo Group Backg roud to the Terms of Referece The Miister has udertake to follow the recommedatios of the Stadig Scietific Committee of the Natioal Salmo Commissio (NSC) to fully alig the maagemet of the fishery with their scietific advice for If the scietific advice is followed, ad the precautioary approach fully implemeted, the it will have serious implicatios for drift-et fishig. Purpose of the Idepedet Group The Miister established a Idepedet Group to examie the implicatios for the commercial sector i 2007 ad beyod. The Group will make recommedatios o the optios available to address ay fiacial hardship arisig for idividuals ivolved i commercial salmo fishig from full compliace with the scietific advice for Remit of the Idepedet Group The specific remit of the Idepedet Group will iclude: 1. Advise the Govermet of the implicatios of fully aligig with the scietific advice ad i particular the hardship that may arise for idividuals i coastal commuities. 2. Determie the scale of fiacial loss which will be experieced as a result of ay measures imposed o the commercial salmo fishery. 3. Make recommedatios, if appropriate, to address ay fiacial hardship experieced. 4. Cosider the extet to which those stakeholders, who would be the mai ecoomic beeficiaries of more salmo beig retured to the rivers, should cotribute to ay scheme, whether i cash or i kid (icludig improved tourist access). 5. Determie the implicatios for the aglig sector. I additio to its specific remit, the Idepedet Group was free to advise the Miister o ay aspects of the commercial salmo fishig sector that i its view merits commet. The Group will be expected to draw o the reports already geerated through the Natioal Salmo Commissio, by the Natioal Fisheries Maagemet Executive ad the Stadig Scietific Committee ad egage i appropriate cosultatio with relevat stakeholders. REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT SALMON GROUP

15 Foreword As set out i our terms of referece, the purpose of the Idepedet Salmo Group is to examie the implicatios for the commercial sector i 2007 ad beyod of fully aligig the maagemet of Irelad s salmo fisheries with the scietific advice ad to make recommedatios o the optios available to address ay fiacial hardship experieced. Needless to say this is a extremely complex issue ad we have edeavoured to esure that we have studied all the factors ivolved, cosulted broadly with stakeholders ad take accout of the socio-ecoomic effect o vulerable rural commuities of ay chages likely from Likewise we have examied the extet to which the mai ecoomic beeficiaries of more salmo returig to rivers should cotribute to ay scheme goig forward. From the outset we also recogized that to advise the Govermet of the implicatios of fully aligig with the scietific advice it was ecessary to first obtai a clear uderstadig of the scietific report i 2006, to determie its implicatios, ad thereafter to cosider the likely advice for (I the ormal course of evets the scietific advice for 2007 would ot be available util the early part of ext year). To this ed we met with the members of the pricipal scietific advisory group, the Stadig Scietific Committee (SSC) of the Natioal Salmo Commissio (NSC). We also reviewed their prelimiary advice for 2007, aspects of which are icluded i this Report. We are grateful to the members of the Committee for makig the prelimiary advice available i such a timely maer. I additio we sought further guidace ad advice from a wide rage of state agecies ad other statutory bodies whose remit icludes aspects of wild salmo maagemet or developmet, icludig the Marie Istitute, the Cetral Fisheries Board, the Natioal Fisheries Maagemet Executive ad Bord Iascaigh Mhara. Based o these cosultatios we established, to our satisfactio, the likely practical implicatios, i fisheries terms, of the scietific advice. This served as a startig poit for the remaider of our work as set out i the terms of referece. A importat developmet i the course of our work was the reasoed opiio addressed to Irelad uder Article 226 of the Treaty of Rome, establishig the Europea Commuity, o accout of its failure to fulfill obligatios uder Coucil Directive 92/43/EEC o the coservatio of atural habitats ad of wild flora ad faua, the Habitats Directive, specifically i relatio to the maagemet of salmo, mixed stock fishig, ad the cotiued licesig of drift-ettig at sea. Specifically the Commissio has stated that to avoid further ifrigemets cases Irelad must comply with the habitats directive ad eschew drift-ettig (MSF) i We udertook a detailed series of meetigs, cosultatios ad site visits. These are summarised below. We cosulted with seior officials i the Departmet of Commuicatios, Marie ad Natural Resources ad other Govermet agecies ivolved i the sector. We udertook a direct cosultatio with 46 differet agecies, orgaisatios ad groups, as well as idividuals, all with a iterest i Salmo, icludig the Stadig Scietific Committee (SSC) of the Natioal Salmo Commissio (NSC), the Natioal Fisheries Maagemet Executive (NFME), ad stakeholders from the aglig ad commercial sectors as well as other govermet orgaisatios ad NGO s. A total of 87 people participated i the cosultative meetigs. We met with these parties over the course of 23 separate meetigs ad coveed 14 additioal pleary meetigs i our ow right. REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT SALMON GROUP

16 We received writte submissios from 64 idividuals, orgaisatios, state agecies ad private compaies represetig a comprehesive rage of iterest groups. We udertook a extesive programme of desk research o previous reports ad a wide variety of other backgroud material o the sector. We reviewed the may reports already geerated through the Natioal Salmo Commissio ad its Stadig Scietific Committee, the Natioal Fisheries Maagemet Executive, ad available publicatios dealig with related issues from a wide rage of sources. We travelled o three occasios to meet with salmo fisherme ad view, at first had, drift-ettig off Ballydavid, Couty Kerry ad draft-ettig o the River Lee at Blackrock Castle, Couty Cork. We also met with represetatives of the Lough Foyle Drift-et Fisherme s Associatio i Greecastle, Couty Doegal. We met with the Chief Executive ad seior scietist of Loughs Agecy. We wish to ackowledge the iputs, support ad cooperatio which we received from all cocered ad of the hard work, thought ad effort which wet ito may of the submissios ad other iputs received. We are also grateful for the assistace ad advice of the Secretary Geeral ad officials of the Departmet of Commuicatios, Marie ad Natural Resources, all of whom gave geerously of their kowledge, experiece ad expertise. It is clear to the Group that: There is a widely held view that the salmo resource is uder serious threat from a combiatio of overexploitatio, pollutio, habitat degradatio ad poor water quality maagemet. There is o sigle solutio to the challeges facig the salmo fisheries sector which will meet with uiversal approval. May of the sectoral stakeholders have opposig views as to what eeds to be doe ad, yet, i almost every case there is a acceptace that the well beig ad maiteace of atioal salmo stocks is of vital importace. Traditioal salmo fishig is a itegral part of the fabric of coastal commuities, a umber of which are i Gaeltacht areas. There is a widely shared belief that the ecoomic ad tourist potetial of the sector is ot sufficietly recogised ad that, i particular, the potetial of the wild salmo recreatioal fishery is ot beig fully exploited. May believe that idiscrimiate drift-et fishig has damaged this potetial. Oe issue o which there was a uaimous view amogst the various iterests who cotributed to the review was that the curret maagemet strategy is ot succeedig ad is ot adequate to prevet further declie of the salmo resource. The persistet ad icreasigly itese pressure o Irelad to come ito lie with best iteratioal practice ad ed idiscrimiate mixed stock fishig. This is starkly reiforced by the Europea Commissio s reasoed opiio o the Habitats Directive. REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT SALMON GROUP

17 We are ow at a critical jucture i our efforts to halt the catastrophic declie of Irish salmo stocks. It is clear to us that a radical ad comprehesive ew maagemet approach is ow eeded. The scietific advice is uequivocal that the edig of idiscrimiate mixed stock fishig at sea ad the restrictio o aglig i certai rivers are essetial parts of a atioal strategy to arrest this declie. These must be complemeted by a wide rage of other atioal measures to iclude improved water quality, ehaced river maagemet ad protectio of spawig beds. I additio there should be a ehaced ad more targeted programme of evaluatio of coservatio measures. O the iteratioal frot we were struck by the very high marie mortality rates (of the order of >90%) ad a better uderstadig of the factors ivolved is required. As we complete our task it is clear to the members of this Group that fully aligig with the scietific advice i 2007 ad beyod will ecessitate cosiderable chage i the way we maage, exploit, ad ejoy our wild salmo resource. Far from simply beig a exercise directed at drift-et fisherme, the challeges ad recommedatios i this report, ad the opportuities that emerge, affect practically everyoe with a iterest i wild salmo. We fudametally believe however, that these chages, if fully implemeted, will create a etirely ew visio of the salmo resource ad how we should maage it ito the future ad offer sigificat ew opportuities right across the sector. Fially, we would like to thak Michael Keatige ad Emmet Jackso of BIM for their outstadig support to us throughout. Professor Tom Collis Joh Maloe Padraic White REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT SALMON GROUP

18 1 SCIENTIFIC BACKGROUND 1.1 CURRENT STATUS OF SALMON STOCKS The curret status of salmo stocks i Irelad ad elsewhere is well documeted ad a cosiderable volume of work was readily available to us from the outset. This deals extesively with the curret biological status of salmo stocks ot oly i Irelad but more geerally i the North Atlatic ad come from a umber of iteratioal ad iter-govermetal orgaisatios icludig, iter alia, the Iteratioal Coucil for the Exploratio of the Sea (ICES), the North Atlatic Salmo Coservatio Orgaisatio (NASCO), as well as from reports of the Stadig Scietific Committee (SSC) of the Natioal Salmo Commissio (NSC) ad idividual publicatios i iteratioal jourals. It is evidet from all of these that Irelad s salmo stocks have declied i the years sice a historic high i the mid-seveties (see figure 1.1). Curretly estimated returs to the coast are the lowest o record for the past 35 years ad the Stadig Scietific Committee estimates that, compared to the 1970 s, there are ow less tha a third of the fish returig aually to the Irish coast. Ad it is ot just Irish stocks that are decliig: accordig to ICES salmo stocks are shrikig i may parts of the North Atlatic - this despite fairly restrictive maagemet measures ad reductios i fisheries ad exploitatio rates. Figure 1.1 Average Number of Returig 1 Sea Witer Fish: Average umber of returig 1 sea witer fish ('000) 1,600 1,400 1,200 1, based o historic ladigs data. Data from SSC: There does ot appear to be ay oe aswer to this problem of wide scale declie. The fact that salmo stocks i may coutries borderig the North Atlatic are affected suggests that, while a wide rage of factors are udoubtedly cotributig, climatic chages ad, more specifically, the climate at sea may be playig a sigificat part. There is, for example, growig evidece to suggest that sea temperatures ca affect migratio speeds ad routes, ca impact o the extet to which migratig salmo are preyed upo, ad ca restrict food availability. Whatever the cause, the effect is clear; the umber of Atlatic salmo survivig the marie phase of their life-cycle (that is the period betwee smolts migratio from freshwater ito the sea ad their subsequet retur as adults to their river of birth) is ow much lower tha i the past. REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT SALMON GROUP

19 While the cause of the declie i marie survival may be poorly uderstood, the magitude of this declie has bee estimated ad the 2006 Report of the Stadig Scietific Committee poits out that marie survival of salmo from Irish rivers is curretly the lowest it has bee sice the preset atioal assessmet programme commeced i 1980 ad that data available from the Burrishoole idex site idicates that the curret marie survival is also lower tha that recorded sice the 1970s. Historically returs to the coast icreased sigificatly durig the 1960 s ad 70 s, was highest betwee 1970 ad 1975, peakig at approximately 1.8 millio 1-sea-witer fish i 1975 ad the declied thereafter. Whatever the cause(s) it is ow clear that marie survival for both wild ad hatchery raised salmo from Irish rivers has falle below 10% ad may have falle to as little as 5% - 6% (see Figure 1.2). Ad while there has bee cosiderable fluctuatio, i years prior to 1996 estimates of marie survival for wild stocks idicate rates i excess of 20% ad up to 30% i at least oe year. The effects of chagig marie mortality are clearly evidet i salmo productio at a atioal level. From 1975, salmo productio decreased sigificatly, with some recovery durig the 1980 s. However, sice 1990, the atioal productio has bee much lower with o average just over 400,000 salmo beig produced. The overall spawig stock too has fluctuated i the same way as the overall returs, with the highest spawig stock recorded i the 1970s. Ad despite meetig the atioal coservatio limit i 25 of the previous 35 years, sice 1981 the aggregated spawig stocks have fluctuated aroud the coservatio limit, with periods durig the 1990 s where it cosistetly failed to achieve the spawig requiremet. It is curretly estimated that o average, betwee (2001 ad 2005) oly 70% of the aggregated 1-sea-witer coservatio limit was attaied. The estimated Irish 1-sea-witer spawig stock i all rivers i 2005 (based o district catch statistics) was 157,870 fish. Figure 1.2 Marie survival % 30% 25% Marie Survival Rate 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% Migratig Year Wild Hatchery Wild (24 year Average) Hatchery (24 year Average) 10 REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT SALMON GROUP

20 There are cocers too about the fresh water phase of the salmo life cycle. Lad use chages have affected the quatity ad quality of i-river habitat. The itesificatio of agriculture has resulted i higher desities of livestock, which i tur has led to erosio of riverbaks ad the accelerated siltig of spawig gravels. (Salmo eggs require a costat flow of well-oxygeated water if they are to survive to hatchig. Excessive silt loads ca reduce the amout of oxyge supplied to the eggs resultig i lowered survival rates). Pollutio from urba settlemets, agriculture ad idustry resultig i acid rai, iputs of excessive utriets, heavy metals, pesticides ad other toxic substaces degrade habitat quality ad may have direct impacts o mortality ad behaviour. Poor quality water cotaiig sewage ad other orgaic pollutats with high biological oxyge demad leads to low levels of available oxyge, which ca kill fish. Various impedimets to the upstream movemets of adult salmo ad the dowstream migratio of smolts too ca have dramatic impacts o the viability of local stocks. All of these potetial impacts ca result i sigificat icreases i the level of mortality experieced by a salmo stock i the freshwater phase, as it completes its life cycle. Ad, ulike marie mortality which applies to salmo stocks i geeral i the marie eviromet freshwater impacts are specific to idividual rivers or groups of rivers whe they share a commo estuary. Cosequetly, while it is may be possible to costruct a overall idex of freshwater mortality (aki to marie mortality discussed above), it is ot meaigful to apply this globally. Istead freshwater mortality should be cosidered o a river-by-river basis. Whatever the ultimate cause of the declie i salmo productivity i the North Atlatic or the egative impacts o the fresh water phase of the salmo life cycle, the cosequeces caot be igored. The umber of salmo available for harvestig is the differece betwee the spawig stock biomass ecessary to meet stock specific coservatio limits ad the umber of fish remaiig after all other forms of mortality have bee accouted for. It is self evidet that as mortality icreases the umber of fish available for harvestig is reduced ad adjustmets must be made if the coservatios limit is to be met. Whatever the causes of the icreased mortality it is clear that the sustaiable harvest ow available from Irelad s salmo stocks is sigificatly less tha it has bee i the past. The most recet report of the Stadig Scietific Committee of the Natioal Salmo Commissio (2006) otes that oly four of the 17 salmo maagemet districts i Irelad are meetig their coservatio limits cosistetly (Cork, Kerry, Coemara, ad Balliakill). Less tha 50% of the coservatio limit is beig attaied i eight districts (Sligo, Shao, Waterford, Dubli, Drogheda, Dudalk, Wexford, ad Galway). The remaiig districts have cosistetly met over 50% of the coservatio limit but less tha 100% o average. Eve i districts which met their coservatio limits, some idividual rivers withi the district did ot. The report goes o to ote that four of seve rivers i the Cork district did ot meet their coservatio limits. Similarly, four of ie rivers i Kerry, two rivers i Coemara, four of five rivers i Balliakill, three of five rivers i Bagor, four of six rivers i Ballyshao ad five of the te rivers i Letterkey failed to meet coservatio limits. It is also clear that productio i the 40 years or so leadig up to the peak observed i the 1960 s ad 1970 s was sigificatly lower. Figure 1.1 clearly highlights that the average umber of returig 1-sea-witer fish betwee 1926 ad 1961 was i the order of 500,000. This jumped to more tha 1.4 millio i 1975, ad thereafter betwee 1990 ad 2005 it was less tha 400,000. Ideed it ca be see that, atioally, productio has retreated to levels at least as low, ad probably lower, tha i the period from the mid 1920 s up to the exceptioally high levels observed betwee 1965 ad Clearly the stock is ot i a positio to sustai the level of harvestig it did betwee 1965 ad REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT SALMON GROUP 11

21 1.2 RECENT CONSER VATION MEASURES Recogisig the decliig status of wild salmo stocks, additioal coservatio measures have bee itroduced progressively over the past decade. These have, i the mai, bee targeted at reducig fishig effort associated with commercial fishig. I 1997 the opeig of the draft-ettig seaso was deferred util the 12th of May; a cap was placed o the umber of public commercial fishig liceces for draft ad drift-ets; the area of fishig at sea was reduced from twelve autical miles from the baselie to six; the drift-ettig seaso was restricted both i duratio (1st Jue to 31st July) ad time allowed for fishig (the fishig day was restricted to the hours of 4am to 9pm). I 2001 additioal measures were put i place icludig a madatory carcass taggig ad logbook scheme for all salmo fishig practices icludig aglig. This scheme was itroduced to provide a verifiable accout of the quatity of wild salmo beig caught by both the commercial ad aglig sectors. The sale of rod-caught salmo was prohibited ad the aglig fishig effort was reduced with a aglig bag limit of oe fish per day applied from September 1st to December 31st ad three fish per day from Jauary 1st to 31st May up to a seaso limit of twety fish. Fially, i 2002, the first Total Allowable Catch (TAC) was itroduced for commercial catches of salmo. Sice its itroductio, the TAC has bee reduced i every year ad this has resulted i a 60% reductio i allowable catch betwee 2002 ad 2006 (Table 1.1) Table 1.1 Total Allowable Commercial Catch (Excludes Aglig). Year TAC 219, , , ,900 91,367 Total Reported Commercial catch 206, , , ,180.a. These coservatio measures have had a sigificat impact o harvestig ad sice 2001 the total catch of salmo caught by all fishig methods has dropped from 259,475 to 143,541 fish i 2005, or a decrease i catches of 47.5%. I fact the aual TAC, itroduced i 2002, has ever bee fully take up (Table 1.1 ad 1.2). I this regard the Group did ote a poit made durig the cosultatio process, that as a miimum umber of carcass tags are distributed to all commercial licece holders whether active or ot this has udoubtedly led to some tags effectively beig take out of circulatio ad, cosequetly, ot beig used. This should be bore i mid whe cosiderig the total catch i relatio to the commercial TAC. Table 1.2 Total Salmo Catch Year Drift Draft Other* Total Reported Commercial TAC Aglig Catch Overall Total % Chage ,172 30,861 5, ,401.a. 26, ,475.a ,177 23,032 4, , ,649 29, , % ,222 21,100 4, , ,000 20, , % ,303 19,443 3, , ,951 26, , % ,231 16,735 3, , ,900 22, , % *Sap, Loop, Bag-ets ad Head-weir fisheries. 12 REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT SALMON GROUP

22 1.2.1 The Impact of Coservatio Measures Take to Date I their Report The Status of Irish Salmo Stocks i 2005 ad Precautioary Catch Advice for 2006 the Stadig Scietific Committee preset the results of the most recet assessmet of Irish salmo stocks. I light of what has bee preseted here o the status of stocks geerally i the North Atlatic ad more specifically i Irish waters, alog with the itroductio ad implemetatio of coservatio measures sice 1997, the SSC report provides little grouds for optimism. It poits out that: Give the curret poor marie survival coditios, the expectatio of large catches is urealistic at preset ad there should be a priority give to coservatio rather tha catch. Despite the recet reduced exploitatio o stocks, may are fallig well below their coservatio limit. It would appear therefore that the coservatio measures itroduced over the past decade or so have ot achieved the desired results. It ca be argued that they have oly succeeded i prevetig a eve more sigificat collapse i salmo stocks geerally. It would also appear that these measures have bee especially iadequate i some cases judgig by the poor status of certai stocks particularly those i rivers i the east ad south-east of the coutry. It is equally apparet from the report of the Stadig Scietific Committee that it may ot just be a failure of coservatio measures that must be addressed goig forward; the basis o which the advice has bee traditioally formulated i.e. o a district level, may also be iadequate. 1.3 MIXED STOCK FISHING Defiig Mixed Stock Fisheries The issue of mixed stock fishig is fudametal to the strategy o salmo coservatio. NASCO (the North Atlatic Salmo Coservatio Orgaisatio) has defied mixed stock fishig as ay fishery exploitig a sigificat umber of salmo from two or more river stocks. The Group has adopted this defiitio Quatifyig at-sea Drift-et Mixed Stock Fisheries Drift-ettig at sea is the mai form of mixed stock fishig. This arises because each et ca i) itercept fish returig to multiple rivers icludig salmo origiatig i rivers quite distat from the district of the fishery ad ii) it does ot distiguish betwee fish attemptig to retur to rivers with adequate umbers of spawig fish ad those returig to rivers with seriously depleted stocks. The Marie Istitute has idetified the iterceptory effects of drift-ettig by taggig ad releasig salmo i certai river systems ad later moitorig where these tagged salmo are caught. The evidece (figure 1.3) idicates that salmo from may rivers (some with low levels of coservatio limit attaimet) are subject to iterceptio by drift-ets at distat locatios aroud the Irish coast. The Stadig Scietific Committee report otes that the Natioal Coded Wire Tag ad Tag Recovery Programme curretly provides iformatio o the extet of mixed stock elemet of the commercial salmo fisheries. It has bee estimated from coded wire tag returs that up to 50% of the catch of idividual river tagged stock may be take outside the fishery regio where they origiated ad i most cases i several fishery regios. REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT SALMON GROUP 13

23 Figure 1.3 The proportio of fish tagged i the rivers idicated i the title of each figure (Boye, Liffey, Slaey etc.), that tured up i each of the commercial fisheries moitored (Doegal, Mayo, Galway - Limerick etc., drift-et fisheries; other drift-et, Norther Irelad, Draft-et ad trap fisheries). Taggig data are from with the exceptio of the Boye, Liffey ad Slaey which are results from all years, ad the Suir which are from 2006 oly. 100 Boye 100 Liffey % % Doegal Mayo Galway - Limerick Kerry West Cork South S. East Other N. Irelad Draft Trap 0 Doegal Mayo Galway - Limerick Kerry West Cork South S. East Other N. Irelad Draft Trap 100 Slaey 100 Suir % % Doegal Mayo Galway - Limerick Kerry West Cork South S. East Other N. Irelad Draft Trap 100 Lee 100 Shao % % Doegal Mayo Galway - Limerick Kerry West Cork South S. East Other N. Irelad Draft Trap 0 Doegal Mayo Galway - Limerick Kerry West Cork South S. East Other N. Irelad Draft Trap Corrib Wild Delphi % % Doegal Mayo Galway - Limerick Kerry West Cork South S. East Other N. Irelad Draft Trap Doegal Mayo Galway - Limerick Kerry West Cork South S. East Other N. Irelad Draft Trap Doegal Mayo Galway - Limerick Kerry West Cork South S. East Other N. Irelad Draft Trap Burrishoole Ere % % Doegal Mayo Galway - Limerick Kerry West Cork South S. East Other N. Irelad Draft Trap Doegal Mayo Galway - Limerick Kerry West Cork South S. East Other N. Irelad Draft Trap REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT SALMON GROUP

24 1.4 INTERNATIONAL DIMENSION NASCO At successive meetigs of NASCO Irelad has come uder pressure to comply with iteratioal best practice ad to elimiate idiscrimiate mixed stock fishig at sea. I this regard certai commitmets have bee give by Irelad at the 2006 meetig of NASCO UK It must also be oted that expert opiio i the UK cosiders that the Irish drift-et fishery has a sigificat effect o salmo destied for rivers outside Irelad icludig the Uited Kigdom. More Specifically Eglish Nature cosiders that the Irish fishery is curretly cotributig towards the failure of rivers o the west ad south coasts of Eglad to comply with their coservatio limits. A 2003 report otes the Irish drift-et fishery is thought to take as much as 15% of the salmo stock from west coast rivers i Eglad ad Wales ad up to 20% of the stock from souther Eglish rivers. The Eviromet Agecy for Eglad ad Wales has similarly oted that prior to the itroductio of the maagemet measures i 1997, exploitatio rates i the Irish fishery were estimated at about 1% for stocks from the orth east of Eglad, higher (15 to 22%) for two rivers i Wales, but highest (28%) for the river Test i souther Eglad. Sice the itroductio of the regulatory chages i 1997 ad subsequetly, exploitatio rates have falle to 0.5% for the River Tye (data for oe year oly), 2% - 10% for Welsh rivers ad 12% for the River Test. It has also oted: rivers affected by exploitatio i the Irish et fishery iclude several desigated Special Areas for Coservatio with salmo as a listed species. O the river Test all rod caught fish are released ad there is o et fishery. Therefore, it is cocluded, the Irish fishery is probably the biggest exploiter of this stock EU Commissio/ Habitats Directive EU Nature coservatio policy is curretly based o two mai pieces of legislatio - the Birds directive ad the Habitats directive. Coucil Directive 92/43/EEC of the 21st May 1992, o the coservatio of atural habitats ad of wild faua ad flora, otherwise kow as the Flora-faua-habitats directive (FFH) or more commoly as simply the habitats directive costitutes, as do all Coucil Directives, a set of objectives that have to be achieved. While each member state is allowed to choose how to achieve the objectives, directives must ormally be trasposed ito atioal legislatio withi two to three years after adoptio. Salmo have a specific relevace i respect of the Habitats Directive ad Irelad is cosidered by may icludig the Europea Commissio to be of particular importace to salmo coservatio by virtue of the umber of freshwater salmo habitats that are foud here as well as the fact that salmo migratig to atal rivers ad streams i the Uited Kigdom, Frace, Spai, Portugal ad Germay, as well as Irelad swim through our coastal waters. I lie with our obligatios uder the Habitats Directive Irelad has omiated as proposed Sites of Commuity Importace (SCI), twety-five rivers or river systems i which salmo is icluded as a coservatio objective. However a ifrigemet case has beig brought agaist Irelad o the basis that Irelad, by cotiuig to licese drift-ettig, is i coflict with Commuity ature coservatio laws. This arises because idiscrimiate mixedstock drift-ettig is cosidered to exploit fish boud for differet spawig rivers where umbers are low. REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT SALMON GROUP 15

25 I terms of its listig i the Directive, the Atlatic salmo is oly a protected species i respect of its freshwater habitats. Hece wild salmo migratio routes are ot subject to the requiremet to omiate proposed Sites of Commuity Importace (SCIs) uder Article 4(1) of the Directive. However, the life-cycle of wild salmo ivolves a retur to freshwater rivers ad streams to spaw, ad these categories of water-body come withi the scope of the Directive s obligatio to omiate ad safeguard sites as SCIs for the species. While it would appear that the Europea Commissio cosiders that a salmo fishery may be permitted if it has bee demostrated (through scietific assessmet) that exploitatio will have o deleterious effect o the stock; it is clearly the view of the Commissio that by allowig drift-ettig for salmo to cotiue i 2006, Irelad disregarded the scietific advice of the Stadig Scietific Committee. I their reasoed opiio delivered i July 2006, the Commissio have clearly stated that to avoid further ifrigemets cases Irelad must comply with this directive (the habitats directive) ad eschew drift-ettig (MSF) i REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT SALMON GROUP

26 2 SCIENTIFIC ADVICE 2.1 SCIENTIFIC AD VICE FOR 2006 The Stadig Scietific Committee has provided advice o a umber of key issues i relatio to maagemet of the salmo resource i The SSC summarises its advice as follows: 1. The overall exploitatio i most districts should immediately decrease, so that coservatio limits ca be cosistetly met. 2. Furthermore, due to the differet status of idividual stocks withi the stock complex, mixed stock fisheries preset particular threats to the status of idividual stocks. 3. Thus, the most precautioary way to meet atioal ad iteratioal objectives is to operate fisheries o idividual river stocks that are show to be withi precautioary limits i.e. those stocks which are exceedig their coservatio limits. 4. Fisheries operated i estuaries ad rivers are more likely to fulfill these requiremets. They coclude that it is ot curretly possible to maage existig mixed stock fisheries (i.e. drift-ets ad some draft-ets) such that oly those stocks meetig their coservatio limits will be caught ad that oly the umber of fish i excess of the coservatio limits for these stocks will be harvested. While the mai focus of the report is o fisheries ad fisheries effects, the SSC also ote real cocers relatig to factors causig mortality at sea such as predatio by seals, diseases ad parasites, marie pollutio etc. However, it cotiues, there is isufficiet empirical iformatio to allow aythig other tha geeral advice to be give o these at this stage i.e. the more the effects of each idividual factor ca be reduced the more salmo will retur to our coasts ad rivers. Clearly, more directed ivestigatios eed to be carried out o these other factors. 2.2 ASSESSMENT MODEL USED IN 2006 DISTRICT BASED MODEL I 2006, the SSC used a catch (commercial ad recreatioal) based assessmet model to derive returs of salmo to each district before fisheries took place. This was doe by applyig the exploitatio rate i the fishery (based o coded wire tag returs for the past 25 years) to the reported catches ad icludig a estimate of ureported catch. Oce the umber of salmo returig to each district (prior to the fisheries commecig) was estimated, it was compared to the district coservatio limit (i.e. the sum of the spawers required i the idividual rivers i the district) to establish whether the returs met or exceeded the coservatio limit. I a situatio where the coservatio limit was exceeded a fishery could take place o the surplus fish. Where the coservatio limit was ot beig achieved, the fishery had to be reduced or eve closed to allow the required spawers to eter the idividual rivers. REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT SALMON GROUP 17

27 Figure 2.1 The Scietific Process up to 2006 Aual Catch Data Carcass Taggig ad Logbooks Total Returs Coded Wire Taggig Exploitatio ad Survival Stock ad Recruitmet Aalyses Trasported SR Data to Wetted Areas Average Retur Coservatio Limits (CL) Above or Below CL? Applicatio of Harvest Guidelies Precautioary Catch Advice The 2006 approach cosisted of six steps: 1) Record the catch, 2) Estimate catch rates, 3) Derive spawer umbers ad total returs, 4) Estimate coservatio limits, 5) Assess how far spawers are above or below their coservatio limits, ad 6) Recommed precautioary catch limits i each district. Estimates of average spawers, average catch, ad district coservatio limits were produced, ad thereafter harvest optios were provided alog with the associated probability of meetig the district coservatio limit. Followig the procedure used by ICES (for the provisio of catch advice for West Greelad), the harvest optio that provided a 0.75 probability level (or 75% chace) of meetig the coservatio limit i a give district was highlighted Implicatios of District Based Advice I their report (2006) the SSC ote that prior to 2005 precautioary catch advice was provided o a district basis. However they further ote that with the establishmet of the ew terms of referece for the Natioal Salmo Commissio it became ecessary to examie all iformatio available o a river-by-river basis ad this formed part of the advice process i the 2006 report. However, recogizig that it was ot, for practical reasos, possible to move to sigle stock fisheries i 2006, ad that a mixed stock fishery would take place, the Committee provided a precautioary catch table based o the most recet district aalyses. 18 REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT SALMON GROUP

28 2.3 THE SCIENTIFIC ADVICE FOR 2007 RIVER BASED ADVICE. I 2006 the Stadig Scietific Committee advised that the best way to meet atioal ad iteratioal objectives of meetig coservatio limits i all salmo rivers was to oly allow fisheries i estuaries ad rivers as there was a greater probability that these would oly be targetig sigle stocks. The SSC also advised that fisheries should oly take place o stocks that were meetig their coservatio limit. Midful that our terms of referece explicitly require us to examie the implicatios of aligig with the scietific advice i 2007, ad that this advice would ot ormally be available util early ext year, the Group sought prelimiary advice from the Stadig Scietific Committee. This advice, while prelimiary, is based o: Elimiatio of idiscrimiate mixed stock fishig at sea. Idividual river based maagemet replacig the district based model. Give a ed to idiscrimiate mixed stock fishig at sea, ad based o the model used to calculate the TAC i previous years, the SSC estimate there will be up to 68,000 wild salmo available for distributio back to their rivers of origi ext year. These are fish that i other years would have formed part of the at-sea drift-et catch. To gauge the impact of this chage, ad i order to provide advice i 2007, the Stadig Scietific Committee have performed a prelimiary aalysis to re-allocate these salmo back to their rivers of origi, based o distributios from the Natioal Coded Wire Taggig Programme. Figure 2.2 The Scietific Process for 2007 Rod Catch I-River Nets/Other Spawig Stock Couter Exploitatio Rate Catch Foregoe by Nets Stock ad Recruitmet Aalyses Trasported SR Data to Wetted Areas Average River Retur Coservatio Limits (CL) Above or Below CL? Applicatio of Harvest Guidelies Precautioary Catch Advice REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT SALMON GROUP 19

29 The estimate of spawers ad returs to each idividual river for the prelimiary assessmet has bee based either o a estimate from a fish couter or by applyig a rod exploitatio rate derived from the literature or from supportig iformatio from the fish couters. For their prelimiary aalysis the SSC used a average value of 18.4% for illustrative purposes, but stress that this figure will be higher i some rivers ad lower i others. The SSC has similarly stressed the eed to evaluate all existig iformatio o idividual rod fisheries to derive a more precise estimate of the rod exploitatio rate. The iformatio available for estimatig river specific spawers ad returs prior to fisheries cosists of 17 rivers with couter data ad 52 rivers without a couter but with a average rod catch (2001 to 2005) of 10 salmo or more. These two groups, 69 rivers i all, comprise the Assessed Rivers. I additio there are a further 76 rivers with a rod catch average of less tha 10 salmo. 2.4 PRELIMINARY SSC 2007 ADVICE FOR INDIVIDUAL RIVERS. Based o their prelimiary aalysis for 2007 ad assumig the absece of a at-sea mixed stock commercial fishery i 2007 ad after reallocatig the stock which would i previous years have bee take i the at-sea driftet fishery to their atal rivers, the Stadig Scietific Committee have advised as follows: 1. There are 34 assessed rivers (Table gree rivers i Map 1) which have a idetifiable surplus over the coservatio limit ad harvestig could proceed i There are 32 assessed rivers (Table red rivers i Map 1) which do ot have a idetifiable surplus over the coservatio limit. Therefore there are o harvest optios available to allow a fishery to take place such that the stock will meet its coservatio limit. 3. There are 76 rivers (Table yellow rivers Map 1) with o couter or a average rod catch of less tha 10 salmo per aum. Give the teuous state of may of the smaller rivers, the geeral advice of the SSC is that there should be o harvest fishery util other iformatio is made available to idicate that these rivers are exceedig their coservatio limits. Note: This is i lie with the precautioary approach, ad is beig applied here o the basis that there are reasoable grouds for cocer that harvestig would, or could, cause harm but where there is ucertaity about the probability of the risk ad the degree of harm. 4. There are 7 rivers (Table grey rivers Map 1) with high proportios of hatchery-reared salmo (Ere, Shao, Lee etc) ad a umber of rivers with high proportios of multi-sea witer salmo (e.g. Slaey), which will be assessed separately by the SSC ad is expected to be available subsequet to the completio of our report. As explaied above, Map 1 illustrates the distributio of rivers i each of the 4 categorise preseted i the 2007 prelimiary advice. The cotrastig situatio i 2006 is show i Map 2. As a cosequece of the redistributio of the foregoe at-sea drift-et catch up to 10 rivers (Bado, Ille, Coomhola, Maie, Corrib, Dawros, Ballysadare, Drumcliffe, Gle, ad Craa) which did ot meet their coservatio limit i 2006 will have a surplus over the coservatio limit requiremet i REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT SALMON GROUP

30 Table 2.1: Assessed rivers (34 i total) where a surplus over the coservatio limit requiremet is possible followig redistributio of foregoe catch from the at-sea drift-et fishery. District CFB Number OSI Number River ame Dudalk 3 91 Castletow Dudalk 4 94 Fae Lismore Blackwater Cork Bado Cork Ile Cork Coomhola Kerry Roughty Kerry Kerry B water Kerry Seem Kerry Caragh Kerry Laue Kerry Maie Limerick Feale Galway Corrib Coemara Cashla Balliakill Owegli Balliakill Dawros Balliakill Erriff Bagor Oweduff (Gleamog) Bagor Owemore R. Ballia Moy Ballia Easky Sligo Ballysadare Sligo Drumcliff Ballyshao Duff Ballyshao Drowes Ballyshao Eay Ballyshao Gle Letterkey Oweea Letterkey Gweebarra Letterkey Clady Letterkey Tullaghobegly Letterkey Ray Letterkey Craa REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT SALMON GROUP 21

31 Table 2.2: Assessed rivers (32 i total) where a surplus over the coservatio limit requiremet is ot likely eve followig redistributio of forgoe catch from the at-sea drift-et fishery. District CFB Number OSI Number River ame Dudalk 5 95 Glyde Dudalk 6 96 Dee Drogheda Boye Dubli Liffey Dubli Dargle Waterford Barrow Waterford Nore Waterford Black Waterford Suir Waterford Colliga Lismore Bride Cork Glegarriff Kerry Croashagh (Glamore R. ad L.) Kerry Oweshagh Kerry Shee Kerry Iey Limerick d Maigue Limerick a/b,156,157 Mulkear Limerick Fergus Limerick Iagh Coemara Ballyahich (Owemore) Balliakill Culfi Balliakill Carrowisky Balliakill Buowe Balliakill Owewee (Belclare) Bagor Newport R. (Lough Beltra) Bagor Gleamoy Sligo Garvogue (Boet) Ballyshao Eske Letterkey Gweedore (Crolly R.) Letterkey Lackagh Letterkey Leaa 22 REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT SALMON GROUP

32 District Table 2.3: Rivers (76) which caot curretly be assessed (o couter or average rod catch < 10 salmo). CFB Number OSI Number River ame District CFB Number OSI Number Dudalk 2 91 Flurry Limerick Brick Dubli Vartry Limerick Galey Wexford Avoca Limerick d Deel River ame Wexford Oweavorragh Limerick c Oweagarey Waterford Corock R Limerick Doobeg Waterford Oweduff Limerick Skivalee Waterford Pollmouty Limerick Aageeragh Waterford Ligau Limerick Aughyvackee Waterford Clodiagh Galway Aille (Galway) Waterford Maho Galway Kilcolga Waterford Tay Galway Claribridge Lismore Lickey Galway Kock Lismore Fiisk Galway Oweboliska R (Spiddal) Lismore Gleshelae Coemara 154 r4 L.Na Furace Lismore Tourig Bagor 181 i5_32 Owegarve R. Lismore Womaagh Bagor Muigabo Cork Oweacurra Ballia Balligle Cork Argidee Ballia Clooaghmore (Palmerstow) Cork Mealagh Ballia Brusa Cork Owvae Ballia 198 q5 Leaffoy Cork Adrigole Sligo 207 x5 Grage Kerry Kealicha Ballyshao Abbey Kerry 83 h3 Lough Fada Ballyshao Ballitra (Murvagh R). Kerry Clooee Ballyshao Laghy Kerry Fiihy Ballyshao Oily Kerry Owereagh Ballyshao Bugostee Kerry 99 o3_21 Emlaghmore Ballyshao Owewee (Yellow R) Kerry Carha Letterkey 221 h6_38 Bracky Kerry Ferta Letterkey Owetocker Kerry Behy Letterkey Oweamarve Kerry Cottoers Letterkey Glea Kerry 108 t3_22 Emlagh Letterkey Swilly Kerry Oweascaul Letterkey Isle (Bur) Kerry Milltow Letterkey Mill Kerry Feohaagh Letterkey Clomay Kerry Owemore Letterkey Straid Kerry Lee Letterkey Doagh Letterkey Gleagao Letterkey 261 a th Culoort REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT SALMON GROUP 23

33 Table 2.4 Rivers (7) with high proportios of hatchery-reared salmo ad rivers with high proportios of multi-sea witer salmo. District CFB Number OSI Number River ame Wexford Slaey Cork Lee Kerry Cummeragh Coemmara 155 r4 Screebe Balliakill Budorragha Bagor Scrahmore (Burrishole) Ballyshao Ere 24 REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT SALMON GROUP

34 Map 1: Summary of prelimiary scietific advice for Blue dots refer to the ier limits of tide. Rivers i gree have a harvestable surplus. Rivers i yellow are closed o the basis of the precautioary approach. Rivers i red are closed as they are failig to meet their CL. REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT SALMON GROUP 25

35 26 REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT SALMON GROUP Map 2: Summary of scietific advice for Blue dots refer to the ier limits of tide. Rivers i gree have a harvestable surplus. Rivers i yellow are closed o the basis of the precautioary approach. Rivers i red are closed as they are failig to meet their CL.

36 3 IMPLICATIONS OF ALIGNING WITH THE SCIENTIFIC ADVICE 3.1 DIRECT IMPLICATIONS The implicatios set out i this chapter are based o our aalysis of the prelimiary scietific advice for 2007: 1. Natioal maagemet of wild salmo should be based o the idividual river as the fudametal uit of maagemet. 2. Harvestig should be permitted oly o stocks that are classified by the SSC as meetig their coservatio limits. 3. Harvestig should be maaged i such a way that the quatity fish harvested does ot exceed the surplus specified i the aual report of the SSC. 4. There will be o mixed stock fishery permitted at sea from This implies a complete cessatio of drift-et fishig or ay other form of harvestig outside rivers ad estuaries. 5. The harvestig of salmo will oly be allowed i 32 rivers 1 that have a idetifiable surplus. 6. The harvestig of salmo will be prohibited i 32 rivers 1 which do ot have a idetifiable surplus. 7. Based o the precautioary approach, harvestig of salmo will be prohibited i a further 76 rivers 1 that curretly have iadequate iformatio to allow a appropriate assessmet or where the average rod catch is less tha 10 salmo per aum. 8. I the regio of 68,000 fish that might otherwise have bee take i at-sea drift-et fishery i 2007 are available for redistributio to their atal rivers. 9. As a cosequece of the redistributio of the foregoe at-sea drift-et catch up to 10 rivers, which would otherwise ot meet their coservatio limit i 2007, (Bado, Ille, Coomhola, Maie, Corrib, Dawros, Ballysadare, Drumcliffe, Gle, ad Craa) will ow have a surplus over the coservatio limit requiremet. 10. As a cosequece of the redistributio of the foregoe at-sea drift-et catch, i the regio of 40,000 additioal fish will be available for harvestig i the 32 rivers that have a idetifiable surplus. (This is i additio to the surplus that would have bee available i these rivers had the at-sea drift-et fishery cotiued). 11. As a cosequece of the redistributio of the foregoe at-sea drift-et catch, i the regio of 28,000 fish will retur to rivers that will cotiue to be below their coservatio limits after redistributio. Apart from the direct implicatios that derive immediately from the scietific advice, there are further implicatios for may groups of stakeholders; commercial ad recreatioal fisherme, fish processors ad acillary service idustries, fisheries maagers (icludig the Cetral ad Regioal Fisheries Boards) ad the Natioal Salmo Commissio, as well as the Departmet of Commuicatios, Marie ad Natural Resources, ad Govermet agecies icludig the Marie Istitute, Fáilte Irelad ad Bord Iascaigh Mhara. These additioal implicatios are detailed i the followig sectios o a group-by-group basis. However as may of these derive from the maagemet strategies adopted i 2007 ad for which the SSC provides o direct advice, it is useful to cosider first the implicatios for this part of the process. 1 These values give will become defiitive after the scietific advice for 2007 is fialised. REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT SALMON GROUP 27

37 3.2 IMPLICATIONS OF THE NEW SURPLUS A cosiderable additioal surplus (i the regio of 40,000 fish) will be available i certai idividual rivers i 2007 followig redistributio of foregoe catch from the at-sea drift-et fishery. The maagemet ad, more particularly the allocatio, of this surplus provides a sigificat opportuity to address the demads of various competig sectoral harvesters icludig, recreatioal fisherme, domestic ad iteratioal aglig tourism developmet, private fishery owers, fish processors, ad et fisherme i rivers i estuaries. As these ew fish will be the result of maagemet chages itroduced i 2007 ad beyod, there ca be o a priori claim to these fish. We came to the coclusio that the redistributio of this ew surplus is a critical issue which will have cosequeces across a umber of headigs, icludig maagemet, allocatio betwee differet stakeholders ad, depedig o that allocatio, alleviatio of hardship. Ay model for the allocatio of this surplus should: 1. Be predicated o the assumptio that this is a public good. 2. Recogise the case of groups such as processors, restaurateurs ad retailers, who have traditioally accessed wild salmo from the commercial sector, for a cotiued source of supply. 3. Accommodate the iterests of the tourism sector, give the potetial of iteratioal aglig. It is possible to devise models for allocatig the surplus either at a regioal or atioal basis. Regardless of the model chose, chages to the curret legislatio will be required to permit the sale of rod caught fish, as was the case prior to Give that this surplus is a public good, it seems reasoable that the beeficiaries should make a proportioate paymet. The icome the state derives from such paymets could productively be used to ehace the maagemet ad developmet of the salmo resource at a idividual river level. 3.3 IMPLICATIONS FOR SALMON MANAGEMENT IN 2007 I our terms of referece the Group was asked to advise the Govermet of the implicatios of fully aligig with the scietific advice. We have come to the coclusio that a revised maagemet strategy for salmo fisheries is required. This should iclude ew harvest rules for mixed stock fisheries i rivers ad estuaries ad a revised operatioal model to better deliver o the key goals of protectig ad coservig the wild salmo resource ad of optimisig its log-term ecoomic ad social cotributio at atioal ad local commuity level. It should also be based o iteratioal obligatios ad icorporate iteratioal best practice. The followig implicatios will create challeges for the DCMNR, the Natioal Salmo Commissio, the Cetral ad Regioal Fisheries Boards, Marie Istitute, Bord Iascaigh Mhara, the ESB, ad Fáilte Irelad. 1. River based maagemet: River based maagemet must icorporate the followig: Establish the coservatio limit for each river ad the status of the river stock i relatio to this referece poit. 28 REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT SALMON GROUP

38 Itroduce real time moitorig ad maagemet of fish returs ad fish harvestig as to esure that the quatity of fish harvested does ot exceed the surplus available i ay river. Implemet river maagemet plas, as a priority, for all salmo rivers. 2. Coservatio limits: The primary objective of atioal maagemet measures will be to maitai all salmo stocks above their coservatio limit, which is the spawig stock level that produces maximum sustaiable yield. 3. Mixed stock fisheries i rivers ad estuaries: Harvestig salmo from two or more river stocks should be cosidered as harvestig from a mixed stock fishery. This applies at ay poit dowstream of where two salmo rivers meet (icludig rivers, estuaries ad at sea). Mixed Stock Fisheries for salmo i rivers or estuaries, by whatever meas, should be prohibited where ay compoet of the mixed stock is ot meetig its coservatio limit. Coversely, harvestig should oly be permitted whe all compoets of the mixed stock are meetig their coservatio limits, ad subject to all compoets beig maaged i such a way that the quatity of fish harvested does ot exceed the surplus specified i the aual report of the SSC for ay of the compoets. 4. Maagemet Iformatio systems: There will be a clear eed for cetral database, replacig the curret system, to maage the distributio of aglig liceces ad moitor the harvestig of salmo/use of tags. Likewise there will be a eed for improved data collectio mechaisms (icludig couters, surveys, redd couts etc). This has huma resource implicatios for the Marie Istitute ad the Cetral ad Regioal Fisheries Boards. 5. Stock rebuildig programmes: As may Irish salmo stocks are ow kow to be below their coservatio limits stock rebuildig programmes will be required, as a priority, for these stocks. (NASCO provides guidace o what such a pla might cotai). 6. Cotrol ad Eforcemet: The implemetatio of the various elemets i this report alog with the icreased risk of illegal fishig arisig from icreased salmo availability, will give rise to ew cotrol ad eforcemet requiremets. It is importat that this risk be assessed ad the huma resource implicatios arisig therefrom be established. 7. Research: The sharp declie i Atlatic salmo stocks has beig attributed, i part, to the pheomeo of icreased marie mortality ad there are clearly real cocers relatig to factors causig this mortality, icludig predatio by seals, diseases ad parasites, marie pollutio. Give there is isufficiet empirical iformatio to allow aythig other tha geeral advice o these issues at this stage, more directed ivestigatios should be carried out o these ad other factors. Clearly this represets a ogoig challege for salmo biologists (particularly the Marie Istitute), to work towards a better uderstadig of the causes of this mortality ad where possible to seek to reverse or mitigate the treds that have bee evidet for the past 20 or more years. I additio there should be a ehaced ad more targeted programme of evaluatio of coservatio measures. REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT SALMON GROUP 29

39 8. Water Quality ad physical coditios. Freshwater mortality is a problem for may river stocks. While cosiderable effort is beig expeded i improvig water quality ad habitats, cotiued vigilace is required i this area ad a coordiated multi-agecy respose is required. This will ivolve both statutory ad volutary agecies, to iclude, iter alia local authorities, EPA, OPW, as well as aglig groups, private fishery owers, tourist iterests, group water schemes ad other volutary eviromet bodies. 9. Icreased pressure o other species: It is estimated that 35% or some of the vessels ivolved i the drift-et fishery are licesed ad registered fishig boats. This represets early 25% of the ishore fleet ad a estimated 30% of ishore fishig effort. The primary species targeted by these fisherme outside the salmo seaso are lobster with a by-catch of brow crab. However the resource aalyses recetly completed idicate that these stocks are curretly fully exploited ad that ay icrease i their exploitatio would be detrimetal to their log-term sustaiability. BIM is curretly i the process of developig ad implemetig Maagemet Plas for the various Irish ishore fisheries uder the Shellfish Maagemet Framework. 3.4 IMPLICATIONS FOR COMMERCIAL FISHERMEN 1. Fisheries at sea: There will be o fishig permitted at sea from 2007 because of its mixed stock character. This implies a complete cessatio of drift-et fishig or ay other form of harvestig outside rivers ad estuaries. 2. Mixed Stock Fisheries i rivers ad estuaries: Mixed Stock Fisheries for salmo i estuaries or i freshwater will be prohibited where ay compoet of the mixed stock is ot meetig its coservatio limit. 3. Rivers ot meetig their Coservatio Limits: All fishig, icludig commercial fishig usig draft, sap, loop, ad bag-ets as well as head-weir fisheries will be prohibited o rivers that are curretly ot meetig their coservatio limits or for which there is iadequate iformatio o which to base a assessmet. 4. Icreased availability of fish: As stated i sectio 3.2, arisig from the redistributio of foregoe catch from the at-sea mixed stock fishery, additioal surplus will be available i a umber of rivers ad estuaries. Additioally opportuities will arise i the cotext of the distributio of ew surplus. 3.5 IMPLICATIONS FOR RECREATIONAL FISHERMEN 1. Fisheries i rivers ad estuaries: Sigle stock fishig will be allowed oly where rivers meet their coservatio limits. Curretly 34 rivers are above their coservatio limits. Arisig from the redistributio of forgoe catch from the at-sea mixed stock fishery, additioal surplus will be available i a umber of rivers ad estuaries. Additioally opportuities will arise i the cotext of the distributio of ew surplus as discussed i sectio Rivers ot meetig their Coservatio Limits: All fishig, icludig rod ad lie fisheries will be prohibited o rivers that are curretly ot meetig their coservatio limits or for which there is iadequate iformatio o which to base a assessmet. 30 REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT SALMON GROUP

40 3. Mixed Stock Fisheries: Mixed Stock fisheries for salmo i rivers or estuaries will be prohibited where ay compoets of the mixed stock is ot meetig its coservatio limit. This meas that i estuaries which are fed by more tha oe river, fishig will be prohibited dowstream from the poit where ay river ot meetig its coservatio limit jois the estuary. 4. Catch & Release: Based o the premise that there is always a fishig (harvestig) mortality associated with catch ad release, ad i lie with the precautioary approach, there will be geeral presumptio agaist the use of catch-ad-release as a fishig method o stocks classified as ot meetig their coservatio limits. I situatios where the Stadig Scietific Committee has advised that such a fishery is ot icompatible with the maagemet objectives the catch-ad-release may be allowed. Clearly, whe a river stock recovers to a level above the coservatio limit it will re-ope to harvestig. We are coscious too that closig a river to aglig should be see as a ivestmet rather tha a hardship. It will create a strog positive image of Irelad s custodiaship of its salmo resources that will appeal to the foreig as well as the domestic agler, ad will i all likelihood, result i icreased aglig tourism eve i the short term. 3.6 IMPLICATIONS FOR PROCESSORS, RETAILERS, RESTAURANTEURS For the processig sector it is evidet that the mai traditioal chaels of supply will cease. Also the total commercial harvest of wild salmo will be less tha that available heretofore. We have set out i sectio 3.2 various optios for the allocatio of the ew surplus. Depedig o the maagemet decisios take i this respect, the impact o this sector ca be mitigated. 3.7 IMPLICATIONS FOR ANGLING TOURISM We were impressed with the argumets preseted to us for the ecoomic potetial i the developmet of domestic ad iteratioal aglig tourism. The added value to the ecoomy from the expediture from the aglig tourist is a multiple of the average tourist sped. Additioally, it is a multiple of ay other alterative use of salmo. We oted the impact that decliig stocks has had o this sector i Irelad i recet years, which cotrasts with the success achieved by other coutries i developig a vibrat ad lucrative iteratioal tourist aglig sector e.g. Russia, Norway, ad Argetia. Fáilte Irelad has ambitious plas for this sector that are cotiget upo successfully rebuildig stocks. It has already bee show i this report that the impact of the ew maagemet regime will geerate additioal harvestable surplus i certai rivers. Depedig o the maagemet decisios take i regard to the ew surplus it should be possible to ehace the potetial of the tourist sector. I the loger term the objective should be to develop Irelad as a sustaiable ad competitive iteratioal aglig destiatio, based o the recovery ad growth of the atioal salmo resource. The success of this strategy will be depedet o ehaced access for tourist aglers. It was ot apparet to us that this is curretly the case. REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT SALMON GROUP 31

41 4 SCALE OF FINANCIAL LOSS IN THE COMMERCIAL SECTOR 4.1 INTRODUCTION I this sectio of the report we preset a overview of the value of commercial fisheries alog with some historical iformatio that shows how they have developed over time. The itetio is to focus o the scale of fiacial loss which will be experieced as a result of ay measures imposed o commercial salmo fishig i 2007 o foot of the curret scietific advice. At the outset it is of value to recogise that wild salmo has log bee regarded as oe of Irelad s most prized fish, istilled i our traditioal mythology as the bradá feasa, the salmo of kowledge, ad is valued as both a cultural ad ecoomic resource Drift-ettig While drift-ettig is a well-established method of salmo harvestig the catches evideced i the past 30 or so years are ot typical of the log history of salmo fishig prior to that. From a base i 1960 of some 20% of the total catch, drift-ettig icreased quickly to a poit where, i less tha 20 years, it accouted for up to 80% of the total catch. Today that figure is earer to 70%. There are a large umber of salmo drift-et fisherme (584 or two-thirds of the total) who caught less tha 100 fish ad who eared less tha 3,300 from this activity i Of the remaider, 119 eared more tha 15,000 i Other factors too must be bore i mid. These iclude: The total catch by drift-ettig has falle sharply i recet years, ad the total catch i 2005 is oly slightly more tha half (51%) what it was i The scietific advice available to us is that fallig productivity (leadig to reduced salmo returs to the coast each year) is the mai driver of chage, ad that all else beig equal (time costraits, gear limitatios etc.) catches would probably have falle sharply eve i the absece of a TAC based maagemet regime. Nor is there is ay evidece of this tred chagig i the immediate future. TABLE Drift-et FISHERY Number of fish caught 0 to to to to to to 2000 Total Number of Licece holders i each bad % licece holders i 51% 16% 20% 10% 4% 0.3% 100% each bad Total catch per bad i ,022 10,339 29,074 28,888 20,469 3, ,231 Average Average catch per bad , i 2005 Average icome per 1,000 3,300 7,500 15,500 29,000 52,000 5,200 licece i 2005 Average et icome (actual) 465 1,706 3,831 7,885 14,667 26,285 2, REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT SALMON GROUP

42 4.1.2 Draft-ettig Draft-ettig is aother well established method of salmo harvestig, ad like drift-ettig the catches evideced i the past 30 or so years are ot typical of the log history of salmo fishig prior to that. From a base i 1960 of some 50% of the total catch, draft-ettig has udergoe a steady declie to a poit where, i less tha 20 years, it accouted for oly 15% of the total catch. The declie i draft-et catches has bee cotemporaeous with icreased catches from drift-ettig. Though locally importat fewer tha 1 i 15 draft-et fisherme/teams curretly catch more tha 100 fish per aum, while over 50% of licece holders catch less tha 20. Give that the majority of draft-et teams umber three me (with the crew oly takig home a 20% share of the gross earigs) it caot, for the majority of participats, be regarded as a sigificat source of icome. There are a large umber of salmo draft-et fisherme/teams ( ) for whom aual salmo fishig represets but a modest source of icome, ad probably o more, o average, tha 1,000 per team i I 2005 some 33 licesed draft-et fisherme/teams recorded catches i excess of 100 fish each. Oe fisherma/team recorded betwee 500 ad 1,000 fish ad oe recorded a catch i excess of 1,000 fish. For these fisherme salmo makes up a modest portio of their curret aual icome (> 5,000 o average). For the 2 exceptioal licece holders with catches greater that 500 fish, salmo fishig makes up a sigificat portio of their curret aual icome (> 20,000 ad > 40,000 respectively). As with drift-ettig, it is clear that the total catch by draft-et fisherme has falle sharply i recet years. The total catch i 2005 (16,735) is oly slightly more tha half (54%) what it was i 2001 (30,861). TABLE DRAFT-NET FISHERY Number of fish caught 0 to to to to to to 2000 Total licece holders Number of Licece holders i each bad % licece holders i each bad Total catch per bad i 2005 Average catch per bad i 2005 Average icome per licece i 2005 Average et icome (actual) % 11% 5% 1% 0% 0% 100% 6,406 3,987 3, ,247 16,735 Average , ,200 6,000 11,750 28,000 56,000 1, ,632 3,024 5,977 14,216 28, REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT SALMON GROUP 33

43 4.1.3 Other Traditioal Fishig Methods. Traditioal fishig usig head-weir traps, loop-ets, bag-ets, ad sap-ets curretly accouts for less tha 3% of the aual salmo catch i Irelad. Eve the largest of these, the sap-et fishery, probably accouts for fewer tha 2,500 fish aually (average value over the period , 57,000). Give the umber of participats i relatio to the catch it is clear that i o case does the catch represet ay more tha a very small part of the aual icome of the licece holder. There are, however, strog traditios associated with these very old, ad culturally distict fisheries ad the sap-et fishery, i particular, is resposible for the survival of the traditioal boat kow as a cot ad which is uique to the fishery ad the area i which it is practiced Processig Sector There are curretly some 12 compaies ivolved i the processig of wild salmo (i 2001 there were 20). These rage i size from very small etities with 1 or 2 employees, to other mai stream fish processors with sizeable employmet (albeit o a seaso basis reflectig the short catchig seaso). Processig is sigificat i the cotext of wild salmo because of the added value it gives to the fish: effectively doublig the value of the commercial catch. Ideed the majority of this added value comes from the productio of smoked product which ca treble the value of the laded catch. Additioally there is some primary processig for the retail trade. As the preferred catch for the processig sector - wild salmo take i drift-ets at sea - will ot be available i 2007 ad beyod ad the total commercial harvest of wild salmo will be sigificatly reduced o the level available i 2006, there will be a impact o the processig i the short term. As already idicated i this report there are optios for mitigatig the impact o this sector i the allocatio of the ew surplus. We recogise that this will require legislative chage to allow for the sale of rod caught fish. It is worth otig that the processig sector is already diversifyig by establishig alterative farmed product lies, as well as through the developmet of other speciality product lies. 34 REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT SALMON GROUP

44 5 ADDRESSING FINANCIAL HARDSHIP The level of hardship likely to be experieced by the groups directly impacted o by the recommedatios i this report will vary both i extet ad scale. Takig all factors ito accout ad based o the iformatio available to the Group, otig particularly that there is o legal compuctio o the State to provide compesatio i a situatio where it is imposig maagemet measures that are fudametally i the public good, it is oe the less our opiio that it is also i the public good to provide a measure of relief to each group i lie with level of hardship likely to be experieced ad to provide some measure of relief i a more geeral way for the wider coastal commuities depedet o wild salmo fishig. It is the opiio of the Group that ay hardship paymet must be i lie with level of hardship likely to be experieced by a idividual, ad that this should, therefore, be based o the recet catch history of the idividual licece holder. Cosequetly oly verifiable catch, that is catch based o tag returs, should cout i this regard. O that basis we make the followig recommedatios: Recommedatios We are proposig that: 1. A total fud of 30 millio is established to address hardship. 2. We recommed that the fud be allocated o the followig basis: The fud is available to all those subject to a compulsory closure of their curret fishery, amely the holders of drift-et liceces. The fud is available, o a volutary basis, to all those egaged i draft-et, loop-et, bag-et, sap-et, ad head-weir fishig. This scheme should be ope up to the ed of The level of paymets should be determied as follows: a. Paymets should be based o the average verifiable (tag retur) catch for each licece holder for the past 5 years ( ). (A) b. Paymets should be based o the average et icome per salmo i the commercial drift ad draft-et fishery for the past 5 years ( ). We estimate this to be 23 per salmo. (B) c. Each idividual licece holder should receive 6 times their average catch (A) multiplied by the average et icome per salmo (B). d. I all cases a paymet equal to 6 times the curret licece fee i respect of each licece surredered will be made. For example, i the case of drift-et fisherme, this equals a paymet of 2,022. I the case of draft-et fisherme participatig i the volutary scheme the paymet will be 1, Give the immediate impact of the ew regime we recommed that paymets uder this scheme should be made i oe istalmet i REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT SALMON GROUP 35

45 5. I every case, those who avail of the direct paymet scheme should be required to: a. Surreder their licece immediately ad permaetly. b. Verifiably decommissio their et(s) ad/or fixed fishig egies to the satisfactio of the competet authority. Table 5.1 Examples of hardship paymets Drift-et fishery Average umber of fish Licece Paymet 2,022 2,022 2,022 2,022 2,022 Drift-et Paymet 6,900 13,800 27,600 69, ,500 Total 8,922 15,822 29,622 71, ,522 Table 5.2 Examples of hardship paymets Draft-et fishery Average umber of fish Licece Paymet 1,140 1,140 1,140 1,140 1,140 Draft-et Paymet 3,450 6,900 13,800 20,700 27,600 Total 4,590 8,040 14,940 21,840 28, We estimate that the total fud required for this part of the scheme will be of the order of 25 millio. 7. That a commuity support scheme to a value of 5 millio be established to support the developmet of additioal ecoomic opportuities i commuities affected by the closure of the drift-et fishery. The focus of this measure should primarily be those commuities where drift-et fishig has bee a well established activity ad where its withdrawal demostrably impacts o their ecoomic ad social fabric, e.g. Gaeltacht areas. Those eligible uder this scheme would especially iclude those formerly ivolved i the drift-ettig sector, or, alteratively, where a promoter proposes to employ a sigificat umber of people formerly egaged i driftettig. 36 REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT SALMON GROUP

46 6 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE HARDSHIP SCHEME We have bee asked i our terms of referece to cosider the extet to which those stakeholders, who would be the mai ecoomic beeficiaries of more salmo beig retured to the rivers, should cotribute to ay scheme, whether i cash or i kid (icludig improved tourist access). Aligig with the scietific advice will see cosiderable beefits accrue to those remaiig both i 2007 ad beyod. There will be a beefit to certai rivers curretly below their coservatio limits arisig from the availability of the foregoe drift-et catch. This will give rise to direct beefits for the recreatioal aglig sector. These beefits iclude protectig the status of rivers curretly above their coservatio limits; ehacig the potetial of rivers curretly below their coservatio limit to recover; ad some 10 rivers which would otherwise ot meet their coservatio limit will have a surplus over the coservatio limit requiremet i As already poited out i sectio 3.2 there will also be a cosiderable additioal surplus available i 2007 followig redistributio of forgoe catch from the at-sea drift-et fishery. The maagemet ad, more particularly the allocatio, of this surplus provides a sigificat opportuity to address the demads of various competig sectoral harvesters icludig, recreatioal fisherme, domestic ad iteratioal aglig tourism developmet, private fishery owers, fish processors, ad et fisherme i rivers i estuaries. At this jucture we are ot i a positio to aticipate the decisios i regard to allocatio, ad accordigly ay icome, which may be derived from the allocatio of this surplus has ot bee icluded i our reveue estimates for fudig the hardship scheme. We are satisfied that there exists scope to recover a proportio of the fiacial outlay provided for i the hardship scheme detailed i the previous sectio. The schemes evisaged here ca be either direct cash-based schemes, icludig icreased licece fees, icreased rates from private fishery owers, or a evirometal/stock rebuildig stamp for a set period. There are also possibilities for cotributios i kid. 6.1 CONTRIBUTIONS IN CASH It has bee clearly idicated to the Group that aglers, fishery owers ad the holders of estuarie et liceces should cotribute to the cost of ay hardship scheme itroduced. Ideed i their combied submissio the Natioal Aglers Represetative Associatio, Salmo ad Sea Trout Recreatioal Aglers of Irelad, Trout Aglers Federatio of Irelad, Doegal Aglig Federatio, Easter Salmo Aglers Federatio, Federatio of Cork Salmo ad Sea Trout Aglers, Kerry Aglig Federatio, Midlad Salmo Aglers Federatio, South East Salmo Aglers Federatio, Stop Salmo Drift-Nets state that it is estimated that the maximum aual cotributio from these sources is of the order of 2/2.5 millio per aum. However the same submissio also poits out that there is a ceilig to what the private sector ca realistically be expected to raise for a compesatio scheme. The fragmeted structure of Irish fishery owership makes the potetial for large scale cotributios very limited compared with, for istace, Scotlad or Eglad. Two estimates, geerated idepedetly of oe aother, have put the figure for a domestically geerated cotributio at betwee 2 ad 3 millio per aum with the possibility of some limited additioal fudig beig raised from overseas beeficiaries of the cessatio of drift-ettig. Here the private sector is take to ecompass aglers ad their associatios, fishery owers (icludig the ESB), tourism iterests ad estuarie ets ad icludes a possible levy o salmo aglig ad estuarie et liceces. REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT SALMON GROUP 37

47 6.1.1 Evirometal Stamp Havig regard to the udertakig o behalf of the aglig sector we recommed the itroductio of a evirometal or stock rebuildig stamp. I 2005 some 28,700 liceces were sold to the recreatioal aglig sector geeratig a total icome of almost 1 millio. We evisage a evirometal stamp equivalet to the cost of each licece category; for example the cost of a evirometal stamp for a aual all district licece would be 64 or, the equivalet stamp for a Juveile all district aual licece would be 10. We emphasise that this cotributio be desigated for the purposes of salmo coservatio which is a critical requiremet for a sustaiable recreatioal aglig sector. We have cosidered the positio of draft-et fisherme who do ot avail of the volutary scheme. They are curretly capped by quota ad should ay additioal allocatio be made to them it should be doe o the basis of the priciples outlied i sectio 3.2 I calculatig the icome flow from the proposed evirometal stamp we have take accout of reduced uptake of liceces arisig from the icreased cost ad the restrictios o additioal rivers. If this stamp was levied aually for 10 years, ad o the basis of a 25% reductio i licece uptake, the combied fud geerated would have a et preset value of 10 millio. Licece Category Table 6.1 Breakdow of quatity, aual fee, ad type of liceces sold i Aual all districts Aual oe district 21 days all districts Juveile all district aual 1 day all districts Foyle Area extesio Special Local * Cost / 48 Total Number Total Icome Total 5,611 10,966 6,915 1,874 3, , , , ,960 18,740 51,782 2,640 3, ,326 * Aual licese holder 12, No aual licese holder 48 There is a deficit of hard iformatio o the status of private fishery owers ad o the actual ad legal situatio i regard to fishery rates. A more detailed study is required i this area before proceedig with a specific proposal for a icome cotributio by them to the hardship fud. 38 REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT SALMON GROUP

48 6.2 CONTRIBUTIONS IN KIND We recogise that the aglig commuity makes a sigificat cotributio to protectig ad maagig salmo stocks at the idividual river level. This role should be further ehaced ad developed ad should be recogised as a cotributio i kid. Icreased tourist access to rivers is a critical issue for the aglig tourism sector if it is to develop from its curret positio. However, the owership of may rivers ca be complex ad ca vary cosiderably from river by river. May are i State owership, some are i private owership ad, most problematically, the issue of owership is ucertai i relatio to at least a umber of fisheries. REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT SALMON GROUP 39

49 7 ANNEX 1: BACKGROUND TO THE IMPACT ASSESSMENT Salmo fisheries i Irelad, like may other coutries i Europe ad North America, have traditioally bee coducted both i fresh water ad at sea ad are divided amogst recreatioal fisheries ad six distict commercial fisheries. Of the commercial fisheries the largest by far is the drift-et; this is geerally (though ot etirely) udertake at sea, from boats ofte fishig out of remote ad culturally distict coastal commuities. The other commercial fisheries, draft, loop, ad bag-et fishig, as well as head-weir fishig all take place exclusively i rivers or estuaries. All salmo fishig i Irelad is cotrolled ad maaged by seve Regioal Fisheries Boards, with the maagemet area of each regioal board further sub-divided ito districts, of which there are curretly sevetee. All harvestig of salmo, be it recreatioal (i.e. udertake for sport) or commercial (udertake for profit) is cofied to holders of liceces issued by the Govermet. I 2005, the last year for which figures are available, a total of 28,738 recreatioal ad 1,553 commercial salmo liceces were issued. A full breakdow of the commercial liceces showig the umber issued for each fishig method ad district is show i Table 7.1. It is clear that three, at least, of the commercial fishig methods (loop-et, bag-et ad head-weir fishig) are, today, beig udertake o a very limited scale. Ideed oly 17 liceces were issued i 2005 for these fisheries ad the total catch from the three methods did ot exceed 300 fish i ay of the last five years. With 139 liceces i operatio (all i the souther district) sap-ettig accouts for some 9% of the commercial liceces issued i Oce agai the total catch from this fishery is modest ad fell from some 5,000 fish i 2001 to just over 3,000 fish i Table 7.1 Numbers of Liceces by Egie, District, ad Cost, 2005 Regio District Drift-et Draft-et Sap-et Loop-et Bag-et Head-weir Cost per licece Easter Regio Dudalk 42 Drogheda 50 Dubli Wexford 75 Souther Regio Waterford Lismore South Wester Regio Cork Kerry Shao Limerick Wester Regio Galway 37 4 Coemara 29 0 Balliakill North Wester Regio Bagor Ballia 68 1 Sligo 10 Norther Regio Ballyshao Letterkey TOTAL (1,553) % Of Total 56% 33% 9% 1% 0.1% 0.1% 40 REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT SALMON GROUP

50 Rakig less tha drift-et fishig (ad comig below recreatioal harvestig i terms of the overall catch) 518 draft-et liceces (56% of the total) were issued i 2005 ad these licece holders harvested some 16,735 fish equal to 11.7% of the total harvest. The fial category of licece holder, geerally referred to as the recreatioal or sportig sector, accout for the vast majority of all liceces, with 28,738 issued i This sector was also the secod largest i terms of salmo harvested, accoutig for a total of 22,361 fish i 2005, or 15.6% of the total harvest. Overall, however, the recreatioal catch (22,361) was oly 18.5% of the combied commercial catch (121,180 salmo). I all 4 districts (Kerry, Ballia, Cork ad Letterkey) accout for more tha 56% of all salmo harvested i While, i the mai, this is a reflectio of the drift-et catches recorded there, two districts (Ballia ad Kerry) are raked first ad fourth i terms of recreatioal catches. At the other ed of the spectrum 7 districts (Dudalk, Drogheda, Dubli, Wexford, Galway, Coemara, Balliakill ad Sligo) collectively recorded less tha 10% of the atioal catch; two of these districts (Galway ad Sligo) are i the top 10 districts based o rod returs however. Table 7.2 Relative Catches by Fishig Method for Each District i 2005 District Drift-et Draft-et Sap-Net Loop-et Bag-et Head-weir Rod Total % Catch by district Dudalk % Drogheda 0 1, , % Dubli % Wexford % Waterford 4, , ,755 9, % Lismore 4, ,743 6, % Cork 14,743 1, ,116 17, % Kerry 18,448 5, ,537 25, % Limerick 7,391 1, ,300 10, % Galway 3, , % Coemara 1, , % Balliakill 3, , % Bagor 6,228 1, , % Ballia 15, ,997 22, % Sligo 2, ,418 3, % Ballyshao 5,392 2, ,465 8, % Letterkey 12,962 1, , % Ukow % Total 101,231 16,735 3, , , % % Catch 70.52% 11.66% 2.10% 0.02% 0.10% 0.02% 15.58% % REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT SALMON GROUP 41

51 Figure 7.1a Historic Catches (Toes) by Commercial Fishig Method, Toes Drift Draft Sap-ets/weir etc Rod & Lie Figure 7.1b Historic Catches (%) by Commercial Fishig Method, % 80% 70% 60% Toes 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Drift Draft Sap-ets/weir etc Rod & Lie 42 REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT SALMON GROUP

52 Drift-ettig has ot always represeted the pricipal fishig method for salmo. Betwee 1955 ad 1965 some 400 liceced drift-ets caught about 20% of the salmo catch (by weight), however the method greatly expaded i the 1970 s whe may ew liceses were issued: by 1972 there were 1,156 liceces i operatio. This has bee gradually reduced to 877 liceces i 2005 (see Table 7.3). Table 7.3 Liceces Issued by Harvestig Method Drift-et Draft-et Sap-et Loop-et Rod & Lie , , , , , , , ,738 Figure 7.2 Percetage of the Total Catch Take by Each Fishig Method Percetage of Catch 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Year % Drift % Draft % Other methods. % Rods Not surprisigly the relative percetage of the stock take by draft ad drift-ettig has show a dramatic chage about from the 1960 s. Prior to this the pricipal method of capture, the estuarie ad river draft-et, accouted for more tha 70% of the total catch while drift-ettig was carried out o a much smaller scale, i geeral, accoutig for less tha 20% of the total catch (see figure 7.2). REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT SALMON GROUP 43

53 The growth of drift-ettig, as the preferred method of commercial fishig, is, to a large extet, correlated with the developmet ad itroductio of better ets, i particular moofilamet ettig. Oce i water, the ear ivisible moofilamet et cotrasts greatly with the older ets i use i earlier times. Far from ivisible, they were most ofte used after periods of bad weather whe a murky ad wave tossed sea afforded a degree of camouflage, ad it was ot ucommo to see small ope salmo boats puttig to sea ofte i dreadful weather. Tragically may fisherme lost their lives as a result. 7.1 Drift-et TING The largest commercial fishery, i terms of the proportio of salmo harvested, is the drift-et fishery. A drift-et cosists of a sheet of ettig which hags from a floated head rope to a weighted footrope ad is desiged to drift with the curret or tide. Regioal ames i Eglad ad Wales iclude hag, whammel, slig ad tuck ets. Drift-ettig is difficult to defie precisely ad the Europea Commissio is oly ow attemptig to place a formal defiitio o it. Accordig to the EU a drift-et meas ay gillet held o the sea surface or at a certai distace below it by floatig devices, driftig with the curret either idepedetly or with the boat to which it may be attached. It may be equipped with devices aimig to stabilise the et ad/or to limit its driftig. This is ot substatially differet to the traditioal defiitio of salmo drift-ets; a sigle sheet of ettig attached to a floatig head rope ad a weighted groud rope, desiged to drift freely at the surface of waters for the purpose of takig or fishig for, or attemptig to take or to fish for, salmo to which et o ropes or weights or achorig devices are attached which i ay way hider or prevet the free movemet of the et i those waters. Irish drift-ettig is legally cofied to the moths of Jue ad July. I geeral it takes place i the ope sea ad is carried o by holders of liceces issued by the Govermet i waters up to six miles out to sea from the baselie. The times of fishig, the ature of the gear ad the maximum umber of salmo allowed are all subject to maagemet measures. Figure 7.3 Drift-ettig at sea 44 REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT SALMON GROUP

54 Sice, 2001, all Irish salmo exploitatio by drift-ets (as well as estuarie ad river ets) has bee maaged withi a Total Allowable Catch (TAC) framework cotrolled through a system of taggig of idividual fish ad the maiteace of logbooks. The Miister for Commuicatios, Marie ad Natural Resources aually determies the atioal TAC ad its distributio throughout the sevetee fishery districts based o advice from the Natioal Salmo Commissio. Withi each fishery district, the commercial catch is distributed betwee drift-ets ad estuary ets (draft, sap, loop, head-weir). I Irelad the fishery takes place i all districts except Dudalk ad Drogheda ad exteds offshore to 6 miles. All drift-ets are limited to a maximum depth of 45 meshes with each mesh o smaller tha 130mm (5.25 iches). The maximum legth of et permitted for ope sea drift-ettig varies accordig to district ad is curretly set at km (1500 yards) i all districts from Letterkey to Bagor (approximately Mali Head to Achill Islad) ad at km (800 yards) i districts from Balliakill to Drogheda. Net legths permitted i tidal areas are shorter ad vary by river. I 2005 this fishery accouted for 56% (877) of all commercial liceces issued ad 70% of the total commercial salmo harvest. Vessels of all sizes are ivolved i the fishery, from small puts to sizeable half-deckers, ad their areas of operatio vary accordigly. Typically the et is shot across the prevailig tidal stream ad should oe sectio of the et start to drift faster tha others it will be hauled back ad re-shot so as to straighte the drift of the et. Vessels usually keep a close patrol o the et so that fish caught may be removed as soo as possible, lesseig the chace that they are damaged or take by seals. Table 7.4 Historic Drift-et Catches by District District Dudalk/ Drogheda/ Wexford Dubli Waterford 12,351 11,753 9,758 8,303 4,766 Lismore 14,332 12,746 9,461 9,173 4,850 Cork 36,287 25,462 21,644 19,134 14,743 Kerry 23,224 25,309 24,943 17,720 18,448 Limerick 20,646 15,119 11,299 9,148 7,391 Galway 5,685 5,254 4,494 3,736 3,075 Coemara 3,290 4,224 3,043 2,626 1,867 Balliakill 6,733 8,610 5,484 4,026 3,737 Bagor 26,907 29,122 21,399 21,023 6,228 Ballia 7,861 6,408 4,541 4,143 15,442 Sligo 6,775 7,088 5,028 2,698 2,326 Ballyshao 11,248 9,688 6,758 5,271 5,392 Letterkey 21,789 18,352 13,800 13,299 12,962 Total 197, , , , ,231 % Reductio from previous year % 21.18% 14.81% 15.85% REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT SALMON GROUP 45

55 Not surprisigly there are few drift-et liceces i operatio o the east coast, o doubt reflectig the poor state of salmo stocks there. However if oe cosiders the district catches (Table 7.3) with the umber of liceces issued (Table 7.1), the it is apparet that i some districts with quite sigificat stock problems there are still large umbers of active liceces, particularly i Waterford, Lismore, Galway, Coemara ad Balliakill. This is reflected however i the catch per licece ad i the Kerry 39 liceces harvested over 18,000 fish i 2005 whereas i Balliakill 40 liceces took oly 3,737 fish. Table 7.5 summarises these rates, wherei it ca be see that if we assume all liceces are used to the same extet (which is ot the case) the the average catch (over the period ) would vary betwee 1 ad 562 fish per licece. With a average of 169 it is clear that there are too few fish available to provide all of the liceces with aythig resemblig a decet icome. Of course it is the case that ot all liceces are used to the same extet ad this is demostrated i Table 7.6. Here the breakdow of idividual catches shows that oly a relatively small proportio of fisherme are catchig the majority of fish. About oe third (293) of the licesees catch over 80% of the fish (81,870), ladig o average more tha 250 fish per licece durig the seaso. It is likely that the majority of these are full-time fisherme with vessels that are fully licesed ad registered; a suppositio bore out by a aalysis of the fishig boat register ad list of salmo liceces, which shows that approximately 35% of salmo licesees are fully licesed ad registered. These operators are full-time fisherme ad are active i other ishore fisheries, particularly lobster ad crab from April to October ad i some istaces all year roud. Table 7.5 Average Drift-et Catches by District District Liceces Issued i 2005 Average catch Average Catch per licece. Kerry 39 21, Bagor 41 20, Sligo 10 4, Ballyshao 28 7, Cork , Limerick 86 12, Balliakill 40 5, Letterkey , Lismore 81 10, Galway 37 4, Ballia 68 7, Coemara 29 3, Waterford 171 9, Dubli Dudalk /Drogheda/Wexford Average (all districts) REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT SALMON GROUP

56 It is immediately clear also from Table 7.4 that the total catch by drift-et fisherme has falle sharply i recet years. Ideed the total catch i 2005 (101,231) is oly slightly more tha half (51%) what it was i 2001 (197,172). To may commercial fisherme, rather tha poitig to a stock declie, it is, istead, a direct result of the itroductio of Total Allowable Catches i However others coted that this has ot bee the case as the data appear to show that the sector has ot bee costraied by the TAC ad poit to the fact that the TAC has ot bee caught i ay year sice its itroductio. I 2005, for example, the total commercial catch fell short of the TAC by almost 13% (the shortfalls i previous years were 10.3% i 2004, 7.2% i 2003, ad 4.9% i 2002). Agai the commercial sector argue that this is ot the case, but comes about because a) tags are issued to all commercial licece holders eve those who are iactive ad, cosequetly, tags are left uused, ad b) fish are ow ruig later. While this latter explaatio may have limited merit, based o the expert opiio received by us it is ot sufficiet to explai fully the observed treds i recet years. At the other ed of the spectrum some 584 drift-et licece holders (66%) accout for 19,361 or less tha 20% of the total catch. This equates to a average catch of just over 33 fish i a seaso. Whatever the argumets, the data strogly poit to fallig productivity (leadig to reduced salmo returs to the coast each year) as the mai driver of chage, ad that all else beig equal (time costraits, gear limitatios etc) catches would probably have falle sharply eve i the absece of a TAC based maagemet regime. Nor is there is ay evidece of this tred chagig i the immediate future. Table 7.6 Breakdow of Idividual Catches by Drift-et Licece Holders (2005) District Total licece holders Dudalk Drogheda Dubli Wexford Waterford Lismore Cork Kerry Limerick Galway Coemara Balliakill Bagor Ballia Sligo Ballyshao Letterkey Liceces holders % Licece holders 5.9% 12.8% 8.6% 23.5% 15.8% 19.8% 9.6% 3.6% 0.3% 100% Catch per bad ,210 7,169 10,339 29,074 28,888 20,469 3, ,231 % Catch per bad 0.0% 0.6% 1.2% 7.1% 10.2% 28.7% 28.5% 20.2% 3.4% 100% REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT SALMON GROUP 47

57 7.2 DRAFT-NET TING The other ad more traditioal method of ettig, the draft-et (also kow as a seie or draw-et), cosists of a wall of ettig with a weighted footrope ad floated head rope. Oe ed is held o the shore while the rest is paid out from a rowig boat or put to eclose a area of water betwee two poits o the shore. Egies caot be used for this operatio because they impede shootig the et over the trasom. The et is the retrieved by a ma or me haulig the eds ashore with ay fish eclosed draw up oto the shore; a operatio that requires a miimum of two operators ad more typically three. Such ets ormally operate withi estuaries, although some are also fished off coastal beaches. I 2005 draft-et liceces were issued i every district with the exceptio of Sligo ad accouted for 33% (518) of the commercial liceces issued ad for just over 11% of the commercial salmo catch. Draft-et fish ted to be smaller tha drift-et caught fish at about 2.2kg. They do have a reputatio, however, for occasioally acquirig a musty taste, particularly if the fish have bee i the estuary for a cosiderable period. This has bee kow ad commeted o as log ago as the last cetury ad i Wallop Brabazos accout of the Deep Sea ad Coast Fisheries of Irelad published i 1848 it is described thus; A salt water salmo is far superior to a salmo that has bee eve a short time i river water, the flesh is a better colour with a large flake of curd betwee each flake of fish, which is both firm ad rich. Figure 7.4 Shootig a draft-et 48 REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT SALMON GROUP

58 Table 7.7 Historic Draft-et Catches by District District Dudalk 1, Drogheda 2,136 1,254 1,248 1,788 1,361 Dubli Wexford , Waterford Lismore Cork 3,788 2,699 2,995 2,662 1,415 Kerry 5,129 4,820 5,386 6,279 5,561 Limerick 6,715 3,528 2,838 2,005 1,777 Galway Coemara Balliakill 1, , Bagor ,448 Ballia 2,141 2,048 1,554 1, Sligo Ballyshao 4,423 4,725 2,695 1,934 2,068 Letterkey 2,593 1,911 1,473 1,236 1,427 Ukow Total 30,861 23,032 21,100 19,443 16,735 It ca be see (Table 7.7) that the draft-ets are most umerous i districts with large river estuaries such as the Boye (Drogheda), Lee, Bado, Blackwater (Cork), Shao (Limerick) ad Ere (Ballyshao). A otable exceptio is Waterford where due to the steep ad muddy ature of the estuary sap-ettig is used istead. As with drift-ettig, it is immediately clear from Table 7.6 that the total catch by draft-et fisherme has falle sharply i recet years. The total catch i 2005 (16,735) is oly slightly more tha half (54%) what it was i 2001 (30,861). While, oce agai, this has bee put dow to the itroductio of Total Allowable Catches i 2001, it is agai clear from the data that the sector has ot bee costraied by the TAC. As with drift-ettig this agai raises the strog possibility that fallig productivity has bee a mai driver of chage, ad that all else beig equal catches would probably have falle sharply eve i the absece of a TAC based maagemet regime. There is o evidece of this tred chagig i the immediate future. REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT SALMON GROUP 49

59 Table 7.8 Breakdow of Idividual Draft-et Licece Holder Catches by District For 2005 District Total licece holders Dudalk Drogheda Dubli Wexford Waterford Lismore Cork Kerry Limerick Galway Coemara Balliakill Bagor Ballia Sligo Ballyshao Letterkey Liceces holders % Licece holders 15.8% 25.5% 16.8% 24.7% 10.8% 5.4% 0.6% 0.2% 0.2% 100% Catch per bad ,482 4,159 3,987 3, ,247 16,735 % Catch per bad 0.0% 4.6% 8.9% 24.9% 23.8% 22.1% 4.7% 3.7% 7.5% 100% Oce agai the breakdow of idividual catches from the 2005 seaso (Table 7.8) demostrates that oly a relatively small proportio of fisherme are catchig the majority of fish harvested. Ideed less tha oe fifth (89) of the licesees catch over 60% of the fish (10,329), ad these laded o average i excess of 100 fish per licece durig the 2005 seaso. It is likely that some, at least, of these are full-time fisherme with vessels that are fully licesed ad registered. I cotrast to drift-ettig, however, oly 6.4% of draft-et licesees actually caught over 100 fish i 2005; over 50% caught less tha 20 fish. Give that the majority of draft-et teams umber three me (with the crew oly takig home a 20% share of the gross earigs) it caot, for the majority of participats, be regarded as a sigificat source of icome. 7.3 OTHER FISHING METHODS (SNAP-NET, LOOP-NET, BAG-NET & HEAD- WEIR) Apart from drift-ad draft-ettig, the other commercial fisheries use sap-ets, loop-ets, bag-ets, or head-weir traps. These fishig methods are extremely localised i distributio, sap-ets beig peculiar to the Waterford (132) ad Lismore (7) districts ad loop-ets to a sigle river i Lough Swilly i the Letterkey district (15). There are sigle bag-et liceces foud i both the Cork ad Kerry districts ad, similarly, sigle head-weir liceces are foud i both Waterford ad Lismore districts (Table 7.9). 50 REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT SALMON GROUP

60 Table 7.9 Numbers of Liceces by Fishig Method ad District Regio District Sap-Net Loop-Net Bag-Net Head-Weir Souther Regio South Wester Regio Waterford Lismore 7 1 Cork 1 Kerry 1 Norther Regio Letterkey 15 Overall the cotributio of these fishig techiques to the commercial salmo catch is egligible, typically 2 to 3%. (Catches are give i Table 7.10). However the cotiuatio of the sap-et fishery, i particular, is resposible for the survival of the traditioal boat kow as a cot ad is uique to the fishery ad the area i which it is practiced. Table 7.10 Historic Sap-et, Loop-et, Bag-et ad Head-Weir Catches by District District Waterford (sap-et & head-weir) 5,041 4,418 4,280 3,467 2,707 Lismore (sap-et) Cork (bag-et) Kerry (bag-et) Letterkey (loop-et ) Total 5,368 4,690 4,552 3,860 3, SNAP-NET TING The Sap-et fishery is operated withi estuaries i the Waterford ad Lismore districts oly. The et, approximately 15 metres log ad 2 to 3 metres deep, is fished betwee two small boats or cots. Each fisherma holds both the head rope ad leaded foot rope i oe had ad a oar i the other to cotrol the directio of the boat ad keep the et fishig betwee the boats. Fishig takes place while beig carried o the ebb or flood tide. As the curret carries the cots faster tha the et the et forms a bag projectig backwards agaist the tidal flow. A fish strikig the et alerts the fisherme who the sap the foot rope sharply upwards towards, ad sometimes over, the head rope wrappig the fish i the bag. A total of 139 sap-et liceces are fished i the Waterford District. REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT SALMON GROUP 51

61 7.5 LOOP-NET TING Loop-ets are uique to the Swilly estuary i couty Doegal ad cosist of a et bag attached to a arrow trapezoidal woode frame which is exteded ito a arrow river chael whe the tide is flowig. The frame is approximately 6 metres log o the log axis, 2 metres across at the outer ed ad 1 meter across at the ier ed - which is held ashore. Havig exteded the et ito the flow, the fisherma rotates the frame from the horizotal so that the opeig of et is perpedicular to the water flow ad it is the maitaied i this positio by restig a 0.5 metre legth of heavy dowel attached to the frame just i from its outer ed at right agles o the chael bed. Whe the fisherma seses a fish strikig the et he tips the frame back to the horizotal ad the woode frame floats to the surface trappig the fish. Fiftee liceces were i operatio i 2005 i the Letterkey district. 7.6 BAG-NET TING Bag-ets are fixed egies that are used i the estuaries. They cosist of a series of vertical et paels supported by stakes fixed i the shore arraged to form a sigle leader ruig perpedicular to the shore which the eters a fuel shaped bag-et. A series of et baffles are placed alog the sides of the fuel poitig towards its apex. Fish swimmig alog the shore ecouter the leader ad tur to follow it out ito deeper water i order to avoid it. I doig so they eter the fuel of the bag-et ad are hidered i their attempts to escape by the et baffles which keep directig them away from the exit. Ultimately the fish are trapped i the bag ad removed by the fisherme. There are curretly oly two bag-et liceces, oe each i the Cork ad Kerry districts. I 2005 these two liceces caught 149 fish, costitutig 0.10% of the total catch. 7.7 HEAD-WEIR Head-weirs are fixed egies (commoly referred to as head-weir or a ebb ad flow weir ). They are a permaet structure of timber poles fixed across a estuary or river chael ad arraged to form a v-shape poitig upstream with a arrow gap at the apex which leads ito a trap chamber. Fish that swim ito the structure are caught i the trap chamber. There are oly two head-weir liceces both of which are foud i the Souther regioal fisheries board i the Waterford ad Lismore districts. These catch 10 to 20 fish per seaso. 52 REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT SALMON GROUP