IFI ‘aware’ of suspected poaching on ‘Bridge river

A Clare angler has claimed that poaching is taking place on a popular salmon river in the county and has questioned the response of Inland Fisheries Ireland to the issue.

The Owenagarney River in Sixmilebridge is designated as ‘catch and release’ this season, in order to allow an increase in the salmon population, having been closed to angling for the past few years.
The fisherman, who does not wish to be named, said he came upon fish heads and tails indicating that salmon had been landed and filleted illegally on the banks of the river.

He said he suspected “poachers netted the pool, then boldly proceeded to clean their catch and discarded what was left into the river before they left. This gives the impression the culprits had little or no concern about being caught. The heads and tails of the salmon were recovered from the river by an angler who entered the water while fishing.”

The angler said he fears “this type of behaviour could have been a regular occurrence and has gone undetected in previous years when angling was restricted due to the river being closed.”

Since regulations restricting fishing on certain rivers has been introduced, some have argued that the absence of anglers from these rivers would leave them vulnerable to poaching and that rivers should, at the very least, be open to catch and release.

“The anglers in the Lower Shannon Region are genuinely concerned about what could be going undetected in many of the other closed rivers in the region, as poaching, they feel, is now rife on the Lower Shannon. IFI were informed of the incident but faith in their ability to protect the salmon rivers in the Lower Shannon Region is at an all-time low amongst the region’s angling community,” the man said.
The Clare Champion contacted Inland Fisheries Ireland on Wednesday morning with questions in relation to their monitoring and management of the Owenagarney River but had not received answers at the time of going to print.

A spokesperson for the IFI did, however, say that the organisation is “aware of issues of poaching and we are aware of the specific incident mentioned”.

The spokesperson also called for people to report suspected poaching to the organisation immediately saying, “IFI operate a confidential, 24-hour hotline (1890 34 74 24) to which members of the public can report poaching or pollution incidents. It is critical that calls are made at the time of the occurrence as timely reports allow for successful apprehension”.