Sea Trout, Salmon , Licences and Draft Nets

Please remember you need a licence to fish for Seatrout. Bag limits for Seatrout have been dramatically reduced this year as well to try give the fish a chance to recover. Please check http://www.cfb.ie for more information for your area.

Kev

Ooops! Didn't know that. Does this apply when sea fishing? I mean what happens if I'm fishing from the shore and happen to catch a seatrout unintentionally? It's not that I'm targetting seatrout. The Angling Regulations (http://www.cfb.ie/fishing_in_ireland/An ... ations.htm) are not very clear. Can it be similar to catching bass when it's not allowed, then just a matter of releasing? I'm planning to release most of the fish I catch anyway.... when I catch any! :oops:

If your not specifically targetting sea trout, then releasing the fish quickly and safely is the thing to do and you wont get in any bother. If targetting sea trout specifically then you need a licence even in the sea.

[Tanglerat]

We've been here before...........

If you are fishing for Seatrout, regardless of where you are fishing ie freshwater or saltwater, you must be in posession of the appropriate licence. If you are not fishing for Seatrout and catch one, and you don't have a licence, you must release it.

This is the law as it applies to The Republic (excluding Loughs Agency areas). (Please note I am neither a lawyer or an expert).

Anglers should also be aware that currently FISSTA are asking that anglers refrain from buying licences. (RoI only again).

It's a whole big can of worms.

Last edited by Tanglerat on Wed Mar 07, 2007 1:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Big Mac, sea lice won't make the fish unsafe to eat. They are an external parasite and don't affect the flesh unless its a very heavy infestation, in which case the fish will probably be emaciated and you wouldn't want to eat it anyway.
It takes a bit of pressure to remove them, and there's probably no point, as there are plenty of larvae present in the sea, particularly in areas near salmon cages, and it will soon have more lice attached. As soon as the fish comes back into freshwater anyway they will drop off within a couple of days.

I've said it all before about a licence being required, Seaniebo and Tanglerat have already made the point here very clearly.
As for FISSTA asking anglers not to buy licences, now there's a can of worms! :roll: :roll:

Thanks lads but i know all about needing a license for sea-trout as i game fish also, anyway i wouldn't want to kill them just the sport of catching them, i seemed to get more replies about needing a license than how to go about catching them. As for the hike in license fees for Salmon this year its a joke, that we the angler has to pay the poor wee nets man who has been slaughtering Salmon for years a pension for his work over the years, how typical of the Irish government to wait til the Salmon are nearly gone before deciding to do something having been pushed and prodded into it by the Threat of Eu funds being withheld on them then making the angler who in many cases works hard in the river with a club improving spawning etc pay for it.

Did you know: The Fisheries Boards CEOs are recommending that any Driftnet men that do not take the payout money can be issued Draftnet licences for Eastuarys that have a surplus of fish. They're just moving the point of kill, indeed making it easier to kill.

That's one of the reasond that FISSTA are asking anglers to hold off buying the licence. As if doubling the price of one wasn't bad enough.......

Just because you go spinning or fishing in an area that has sea trout doesn't mean you need to buy a licence. It would be very hard to prove that an angler wasn't spinning for bass or gars unless theres a dead fish in his bag. Its different on the rivers where they check if your using a metal trace to prove your fishing for pike. I for one will not buy a licence but will try to spin for gars in the shannon estuary where theres a chance I could get a sea trout.

Donagh

[Bradan]

Did you know: The Fisheries Boards CEOs are recommending that any Driftnet men that do not take the payout money can be issued Draftnet licences for Eastuarys that have a surplus of fish. They're just moving the point of kill, indeed making it easier to kill.

That's one of the reasond that FISSTA are asking anglers to hold off buying the licence. As if doubling the price of one wasn't bad enough.......

It was never the case that salmon netting would be totally abolished, they were just removing mixed stock fisheries (coastal driftnets) and introducing single river management. Where a river has a demonstrable surplus, that surplus (quota) is divided between estuary fishery (draftnets) and in-river fishery (rods). The givernment made clear from the start that anglers did not have the sole right to kill salmon.

Where a river does have a surplus, there is a strict quota available. If for instance, a river has a draft quota of 1000 salmon, that quota will be divided between draft netsmen, regardless of how many of them there are. So driftnetters taking out a draft licence will get a share of the quota - there will just be more netsmen fishing for the same number of salmon - the 1000 mentioned above.
They might be moving the point of kill as Tanglerat says, but they are also making sure that less fish are killed, and only fish from healthy rivers are killed.

I'm not saying I agree with the above, just think it needs clarifying. I personally fish for salmon and wish all the nets were gone, but I don't think I have a divine right as an angler to be the only sector allowed to exploit salmon. I'm tired of FISSTA and other organisations paying lip service to conservation - "abolish driftnets but let us kill as many salmon as we want"- witness their complaints when the annual rod catch limit was reduced to 10 fish per year. I'd say if anglers and netsmen were left to it with no intervention, they'd be fighting over who got to kill the last salmon left in the river. :roll:

As for licence fees, IMO Irish anglers pay little enough as it is for salmon angling - if they lived elsewhere they would have to pay a lot more for a lot less.

Last edited by Bradan on Wed Mar 07, 2007 2:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Thanks for the clarification Bradan. A can of worms, as has been mentioned.

I don't speak for FISSTA, so I've asked someone from them to pop along and comment. Seems only fair, and it is an important issue.

split from
http://www.sea-angling-ireland.org/bull ... hp?t=10094

(Catching Sea Trout)

Good man jd, we were straying a bit from the origional topic there. :D

This might be of interest to you guys.

http://www.marinetimes.ie/news_01.html


Jim.

With regard to your comments on cheap fishing i say rubbish, since the tag system has came into play fees have rose as have the license to this years joke and may i add i have fished in Ireland for years for Salmon and like me many Salmon anglers dont kill their fish and return them, now tell me how many netsmen throw their catch back or how many netmen work free for hours on end with clubs on various rivers fighting pollution building new spawning beds and getting money to build hatcheries to restock the Alantic Salmon. No i have no divine right over the Alantic Salmon but at least i can say i have put something back into trying to save it. The license fee rises you may have noticed have conicided with the wonderful tagging scheme which is then used to tell us what we all know Salmon are in decline in Ireland, do you think our license fee wasnt used in part to buy the tags and employ people to look at the data. As for cheap fishing Scotland has plenty has managed its stocks and also has no Salmon licensewithout the need for wee blue tags.

If you are fishing for Seatrout, regardless of where you are fishing ie freshwater or saltwater, you must be in posession of the appropriate licence.

Not questioning this, but could you point me towards the relevant legislation (regarding seatrout caught in saltwater).

I've also received conflicting information on this from a fisheries officer :?

If you are fishing for Seatrout, regardless of where you are fishing ie freshwater or saltwater, you must be in posession of the appropriate licence.

Not questioning this, but could you point me towards the relevant legislation (regarding seatrout caught in saltwater).

I've also received conflicting information on this from a fisheries officer :?

I'm gonna duck that question and hope Bradan has the answer, cos I don't! :D

i find it amazing that someone can put a license ruling on something u can catch in the sea! as far as i'm concerned no one person has any more right to the sea than another. can't c any harm in targeting them if u catch and release.

If you need a license for sea caught sea trout do you need a tag if you catch a Salmon while say Bass fishing, as far as i know you need a license eg a tag and log if you catch and kill a seatrout from the sea, you did in the Moy esturay and the lower section is tidal, but i dont know if you need one if you release any you catch and dont kill them. Many anglers catch them as a by fish when fishing for Bass or something else, but i wouldnt think it would be fair to kill say a 7lb specimen Seatrout around Waterville in the sea when once it enters the river and lake you need permits and licenses etc to catch it and i think it wouldnt go down well.

The legislation covering this would be initially the 1959 Fisheries Act, added to by later legislation on tags and logbooks. I can't find my copy of the 59 Act at the moment so haven't got the exact section to hand, but the legal interpretation of the legislation would be as follows:

Regardless of location or saline content of the water, if you are fishing for other species and you catch a sea trout or salmon, you must release it immediately unless you have your licence and tags with you, in which case if you kill it you must tag it immediately and record it immediately in your logbook.

If you are actually targeting salmon or sea trout, you must have your licence and tags with you, even if you intend to release all fish.

hi bradan, i didn't realise i couldn't fish for seatrout in the sea even though i was gonna release all the fish i caught. i have to say i have never set out to specifically catch seatrout but i have caught the occasional one when i've been fishing for flounder etc. how would anyone ever prove that u r fishing for that species?? i have to say i don't agree with this law. but that is only my opinion.