Ireland Welcomes Anglers - NOT!

Tue Apr 24, 2007 6:52 pm

I have been expanding my range for guiding over the past few weeks as i am developing 'bass fishing safaris'. I encountered a new level of promotional advertising for this country of welcomes today in my travels.

It will be interesting when i bring european or american destination anglers through a blockade of signs like the one attached
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Tue Apr 24, 2007 6:59 pm

There at this again :?
Is this down at passage east again?

Tue Apr 24, 2007 7:42 pm

Maybe those signs should be brought to the attention of the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism ............. :roll:

Or, more usefully, to the attention of the GardaĆ­ as it seems to be in contravention of the prohibition of incitement to hatred act.

Tue Apr 24, 2007 8:06 pm

they are in youghal as well

Tue Apr 24, 2007 8:32 pm

whats that about suicidal volkswagen? (look at the yellow sign in the pic)

dont they need planning permission to put up a sign of that size also?

Same place

Tue Apr 24, 2007 9:37 pm

Three more for your viewing pleasure - (in the background)
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Wed Apr 25, 2007 12:04 am

The general election has probably started this again

Wed Apr 25, 2007 7:57 am

these signs have been up round passage and havent came down...its sickening..and id love them to try and take my rods off me on the beach, which is apparently what they do...lol..theyd get a lovely surprise :twisted:

Wed Apr 25, 2007 11:22 am

I may be controversial here, but I say good for them.

This Govt has made such a mess of everything Fisheries, we need a revolution to sort things out.

This gets the message out that folks are not happy, which gives us an opening to explain/promote/propagandise our position. Question is, who in the angling community is up for it?

Wed Apr 25, 2007 1:37 pm

are those posters blaming anglers and government for banning
commercial salmon fishing?

i think they are misguided because its not even in their own interest to render the species extinct.

I certainly won't vote fine gael who were prepared to render this species extinct for a few dozen measly votes. if anyone canvasses me i'll explain it to them

Wed Apr 25, 2007 2:19 pm

One the other hand, Fine Gael seem to have a policy for supporting and developing the recreational angling sector and associated tourism ... :?

Wed Apr 25, 2007 2:28 pm

teacher wrote:One the other hand, Fine Gael seem to have a policy for supporting and developing the recreational angling sector and associated tourism ... :?


From recent bitter experience, I'd be very wary about this.

Up here in Donegal, they (Northern Regional Fisheries Board) have done this to a Salmon River. In the interests of developing tourism and bringing in visiting anglers, they're going to develope the Gweebarra River under the Catchment Management principle.

Result? Up to this year Donegal anglers could fish the Gweebarra as much as they liked. Now, they pay 50 Euros a day to fish it.

The protests and opposition are continuing.

Thu Apr 26, 2007 11:24 am

I live near Passage East, I am not a fisherman but know many of them.
I believe that they are been screwed by the present regulations.
I believe the government have happily allowed the driftmen and rod anglers to go at each other simply to deflect from the truth and the real reason behind the banning of driftnets.

Does anybody here know of a hatchery where samon are grown to spawn and the resulting eggs grown to maturity to produce young salmon?

Take my word for it they do not exist, at least I have never found one.

So, as a result, on every major water system there are traps usually managed by the ESB , Fisheries or other government agencies taking wild salmon from the rivers in vast numbers, removing the eggs and milt, mixing them and producing young salmonids.
These are then sold to fish farms all over the country and worse still exported to places like Norway.
So every farmed salmon you see is actually one that was taken from the wild.
The government are interested only in protecting this valuable resource for the benefit of their own coffers and the salmon farmers.

Anglers and driftmen do not get a look in.

I am surprised that during all the coverage of the fish wars nobody fingered the real benefactors of an end to driftnetting! :shock:

Thu Apr 26, 2007 3:22 pm

i find the arguments in the scientific report

http://www.shannon-fishery-board.ie/abo ... tOct06.pdf

considerably more convincing than those set out by you above. Im not actually a salmon angler, but like to look out on the atlantic ocean and know they are still swimming there.

it occurred to me there are nearly 1200 registered users on this site, 1200 votes. For all the ramblming and ranting we do, has anyone thought how to use the election to affect policy?

Thu Apr 26, 2007 3:43 pm

antbear wrote: Does anybody here know of a hatchery where samon are grown to spawn and the resulting eggs grown to maturity to produce young salmon?

Take my word for it they do not exist, at least I have never found one.


Basic science lesson no. 1 - young salmon are reared in freshwater, when they smoltify they have to migrate to sea or they will die. Fact. So it would be impossible to grow salmon in a hatchery until maturity. Farmed salmon smolts are actually transported to cages in the sea, grown on to harvest size, then killed. Some are grown on to maturity, brought to a hatchery and stripped to produce more farmed smolts.

So, as a result, on every major water system there are traps usually managed by the ESB , Fisheries or other government agencies taking wild salmon from the rivers in vast numbers, removing the eggs and milt, mixing them and producing young salmonids.
These are then sold to fish farms all over the country and worse still exported to places like Norway.


Basic science lesson no. 2 - what you wrote above is absolute rubbish. Wild salmon would be unsuitable for farming because they are slower-growing and earlier-maturing than farmed strains that have been bred to grow fast and mature late, so they don't waste energy on developing their reproductive system. The most popular strains come from Norwegian salmon.
The traps and hatcheries run by fisheries boards around the country take for the most part fin-clipped fish that were released from the hatchery 1 or 2 years earlier. They strip the fish, hatch the eggs, and either plant out eggs and fry or rear on to smolt size and release at that stage.
I can't speak for the ESB but they would not be allowed to take wild fish for stripping, only finclipped fish of hatchery origin.


So every farmed salmon you see is actually one that was taken from the wild.

Are you actually serious???? :shock: :lol: :lol: :lol: This is drivel.... :roll:

The government are interested only in protecting this valuable resource for the benefit of their own coffers and the salmon farmers.


Unfortunately, the govt spent many years actually protecting the interests of commercial fishermen, and only eventually gave in on the issue because the EU threatened legal action. If they were protecting salmon farmers they would have done it years ago.

Seriously mate, wise up and check your facts before you write this kind of thing on a public board - you just make yourself look silly... :roll: :lol: :lol:

Thu Apr 26, 2007 5:22 pm

Are you sure your 'Basic science lesson no. 1' is true. If so what about the landlocked salmon some trout fisheries stock and that are in some of the big european rivers?

Thu Apr 26, 2007 5:25 pm

they are a different breed of salmon than our native north atlantic salmon. they may possibly be triploids that are stocked into commercial fisheries (i.e salmon that cannot breed), although i may be slightly wrong with that. atlantic salmon could not sustain their survival in freshwater..

Thu Apr 26, 2007 5:28 pm

Those are derived from strains of landlocked salmon that naturally evolved in a couple of places over many generations - they are extremely rare populations, although locally common. They would probably be classified as separate species.
The Atlantic salmon needs to migrate to saltwater when it smoltifies - I've seen smolts that are kept more than a week or 2 longer in the hatchery than they should have been and they drop like flies...

Thu Apr 26, 2007 9:49 pm

they stocked salmon is a local put and take fishery near me and they all died, only a few where caught within two weeks after that they died.

Land of welcomes

Fri Apr 27, 2007 12:27 pm

Lets say the government closed the recreational fishing on bass as well as the commercial ban - I wouldnt be too happy, my livelihood would be gone down the drain! I imagine many anglers wouldnt be too happy either. So I can to some extent understand why they might be unhappy.

The goverment HAS restricted the commercial exploitation of the Bass and operates a closed spawning season between May15th and June15th, and a two fish a day bag limit for conservation puposes. Excellent, having nearly commercially fished the species to extinction.

What do you think would happen if ANGLERS felt equally as emotive as the fishermen, got together as a group and erected big signs that said:

Poachers and illegal bass fishers (buyers and sellers) not welcome on this bridge or near this reef or in this estuary.