Can the Irish salmon we save?
In the week that the great salmon project on the Thames appeared doomed, John Costello looks at the prospects for the King of Fish here
It is as much a symbol of Ireland as the harp, a pint of Guinness and the Celtic Cross. However, Fionn Mac Cumhaill would be sadly disappointed if he returned to Ireland in search of the Salmon Of Knowledge.
While attempts at restoring salmon, the finest of all freshwater fish, to the River Thames finally failed this week after 30 years of trying, the future of the Irish salmon hangs in the balance.
"The salmon was regarded as the king of fish," says Peter O'Reilly, author and leading authority on salmon fishing in Ireland. "When I was growing up in the 1940s the rivers were thick with salmon. But man has been salmon's greatest enemy."
Years of abuse from the damming of rivers, pollution and over-fishing almost pushed the species to extinction. However, it was pulled back from the brink in 2007 when the EU forced the Irish Government to impose a ban on drift-net fishing.
"I am based in Connemara and the year after the drift nets were removed the number of salmon running the river in Ballynahinch doubled," says Simon Ashe of Salmon Watch Ireland.
Indeed, the ban has seen modest improvements in fish stocks throughout Ireland.
"Irish salmon stocks are now being managed on an individual river basis," says Dr Paddy Gargan, a senior researcher with Inland Fisheries Ireland. "Salmon can only be harvested from rivers where there is a surplus and only the surplus can be taken. No salmon can be harvested from rivers not meeting their spawning requirements [called conservation limit]."
In 2007, 103 rivers in Ireland were closed to salmon fishing. Now only 60 remain closed. Of the 81 rivers open to anglers, 29 operate an enforced system of catch and release. However, the future of the Irish salmon remains extremely vulnerable.
"We were really hoping for a major boost to the runs following the drift-net ban in 2007," says Peter Mantle of Delphi Fishing Lodge in Connemara. "We are getting a bigger fish, but the numbers have been disappointing. Drift-net fishing was obviously not the only problem -- but at least it was a problem that could be dealt with."
While commercial fishing took its toll on salmon stocks, the number of salmon returning from sea has dropped dramatically.
"The survival of salmon at sea over the last five years has gone down by about 50pc," says Ian Powell of the Blackwater Lodge salmon angling centre Ballyduff, Co Waterford. "We don't know if it's to do with climate change, a difference in water temperatures or differences in the feeding. No one really knows what is happening."
To try to understand why salmon are disappearing at sea, the SalSea project (www.salmonatsea.com) is investigating the migration of salmon in the North-East Atlantic. Irish, Faroese and Norwegian research vessels are using DNA technology to identify individual fish caught at sea and trace them back to their region or river of origin.
"We were completely ignorant about their life at sea but we are changing that," says Dr Ken Whelan of the Marine Institute and Chairman of NASCO's International Atlantic Salmon Research Board (IASRB). "The findings of the research will be presented in September at the Salmon Summit in France so by then we should have a greater understanding."
But is global warming a key suspect?
"There is no doubt there is a changing environment in the ocean," says Dr Whelan, "but it is a completely different question to ask if man has had an impact on those changes. There have been huge changes in sea fish stock dating back to the 17th century in terms of the shifting patterns. So we are just trying to get our head around it at the moment."
Every rod-caught salmon is worth €436 to the Irish economy, according to Suzanne Campion, Business Development Manager at Inland Fisheries Ireland. So with the allowable catch for 2011 at 91,338, the value for the tourism market in Ireland is significant.
However, while scientists probe the Atlantic to discover what is happening to the salmon, local activists still believe there is one major hurdle left in securing the future of wild salmon in Ireland.
"The evidence against fish farming is overwhelming," says Peter Mantle. "These farms that contain hundreds and thousands of salmon held in cages in warm inshore waters year-round are an unbelievable breeding ground for sea lice. These farms are spewing out literally gazillions of these lice, which are colonising any young wild sea trout or salmon in the area. Sea lice infestation has quite literally destroyed a huge proportion of the wild fish of sea trout and salmon."
While Salmon Watch Ireland is pushing for stricter regulation of Ireland's fish farms, the sector believes it has no questions to answer. "No one has been able to point out wild salmon stock that has been adversely affected by salmon farming," says Richie Flynn, Irish Farmers Association Aquaculture Executive Secretary.
'Sea lice is being used as an issue to confuse people but Ireland is leading the way in sea lice research and we are the only country that produces monthly figures on sea lice in fish farms.
"In the current economic climate why are people targeting a sector that employs 1,200 and creates €60m in exports?"
"I would say that Joe Public is a bit confused," says Simon Ashe of Salmon Watch Ireland. "With the abundance of salmon on supermarket shelves and in restaurants, they probably don't understand what is happening to wild salmon. As long as the price remains low for salmon your average person doesn't really want to know where it comes from. So getting through to the consumer on Irish salmon is very difficult."
With the population remaining fragile, the future for wild Irish salmon is far from secure.
"I don't think we will ever see things return to the way they were," says Peter O'Reilly.
"An Indian chief once said to George Washington, 'Not until the last river has been poisoned, the last tree cut down and the last fish is dead will the white man realise he cannot eat money'. The sad reality is if you exploit anything in an unsustainable fashion it will disappear."
The Salmon's Long Goodbye
After more than 30 years of trying, the UK's Environment Agency has finally abandoned attempts to try to reintroduce salmon to the River Thames.
Salmon, a symbol of aquatic purity, once thrived in the river but was driven to extinction in the 19th century thanks to the industrial revolution.
A fish caught in June 1833 is believed to have been the last Thames salmon before pollution spoiled its waters. However, 141 years later hope was reignited when a 8lb 12oz salmon was caught in the Thames near Dartford, on November 12, 1974. This was 10 years after a major project to cleanse the river had begun.
With hopes high the clean-up could once again see salmon thrive in the famous river, efforts to restore the population began with gusto in 1979. Smolts, juvenile fish, were released in the river to see if they could pass through the estuary and then return.
While, remarkably, they managed this feat, the real test was the challenge of swimming a further 75 miles to the potential spawning streams. The resilient salmon managed to navigate its way past 37 weirs and spawn.
Ultimately, however, after an investment of millions, the salmon never managed the swim to sea and then return to its spawning grounds.
So, the Environment Agency, after officially closing the project, is preparing for its final attempt at the stocking of young fish in the river. Sadly, in the likely event that none returns the dream will truly be over.Read More ...
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