It is a conflict with all the elements of class, religion, money, violence and even sex. The problem appears to be intractable, and negotiators require the sort of diplomatic skill demanded in the Northern peace process. Currently, the State's first serious attempt to conserve and manage the wild Atlantic salmon has been "parked". Some believe the initiative is on the verge of collapse.

"Fraying at the edges", rather than "unravelling altogether" is how one senior marine official would prefer to describe the situation. However, he is in little doubt that a fragile ceasefire between warring interests - principally anglers and driftnet fishermen - is under great pressure, following last month's deferral of a significant phase in the Government's wild salmon management plan.

The postponement by the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources, Dr Woods, of a scheme to tag salmon - thereby tracking their catch and sale and contributing to both conservation and knowledge of the true state of stocks - has drawn criticism from driftnet fishermen who have accused him of lacking courage. The tagging and quota scheme was a key recommendation in the 1996 Task Force on Salmon Management report, chaired by Prof Noel Wilkins of NUI Galway.

Tagging was to have begun on May 1st this year, and the delay until next January follows a threat by the Federation of Irish Salmon and Sea Trout Anglers (FISSTA), representing a percentage of anglers and estuary netsmen, to pull out of the programme altogether. FISSTA had signed up to the task force, but is now objecting to some of the details - details which it says were not contained in the report.

Although the task force recommended that quotas (based on tagging returns) should be applied to both the commercial and angling sectors, FISSTA is convinced that tagging and log book records should only apply to "non-sport" salmon fishermen - even though there is some commercial angling for the fish. There is a legal dimension to the Minister's deferral: the initiative will have to be underpinned by primary legislation, rather than a simple bylaw.

However, this legal aspect might have been avoided if the Minister had moved more speedily on another key recommendation of the Wilkins task force - the establishment of a salmon management commission which would keep all sides talking.

Established by the previous government, the Wilkins task force is widely acknowledged to have brokered a consensus among anglers, commercial fishermen and scientists on the future of the wild Atlantic salmon stock.

The report's recommendations included the legalisation of monofilament driftnets for salmon, on the basis that a ban was unenforceable; a radical cutback on the commercial season; and a withdrawal of the inshore fishing limits to six miles.

The report highlighted the dearth of knowledge about the true state of salmon stocks, given that annual catch figures are based on dealers' returns for commercially landed fish, while only estimates are available for fish caught by anglers.

By introducing a tagging and log book scheme, the task force hoped to provide a more effective annual statistic for rod-caught fish.

The Wilkins report took an enlightened approach, in acknowledging the rights of coastal communities against a backdrop of growing hostility worldwide towards non-recreational catching of salmon.

Indeed, Ireland has been under international pressure for some time to outlaw all commercial catching of the fish.

This stance has gained support here among anglers' organisations such as FISSTA, and within an informal network, known as the Wild Salmon Support Group, which involves some influential movers and shakers such as Dr T.K. Whitaker, former senior civil servant and economist, and Mr Fionan O Muirchear taigh, former secretary of the Department of the Marine and now with the Economic and Social Research Institute, who have never really signed up to the Wilkins recommendations. The Green Party has also entered the fray, calling for a ban on the use of driftnets and a compensation scheme for driftnet fishermen.

Representatives of the Irish Fishermen's Organisation (IFO), who have already had to sell many changes to their driftnet members, have never opposed a buy-out. The reality is that salmon fishing is becoming less economic anyway due to the effect of farmed fish prices. However, the IFO has stressed that any buy-out must be voluntary.

Action has already been taken in the case of some of the proposals. The shortened commercial season has already been introduced, and it is ironic that the driftnet sector is now clamouring for more controls by way of tagging; but then, figures for illegal catching of fish show a significant decrease over the past three years anyway.

Even as the various parties try to make the most of the current vacuum, recent figures for wild salmon indicate the stock is in a much healthier state than many anglers would like to admit. Overall figures for 1998 indicate a 13.6 per cent increase, in a year when there were greater restrictions on commercial catching.

The value of the salmon caught by rod, versus caught commercially, has also been revised in figures supplied to the Minister by the Marine Institute. These figures put the total value of commercially caught salmon at around £7.4 million to the economy, based on 1997 figures, which represents a considerable increase on the £2.3 million quoted by the central and regional fisheries boards in their five-year plan.

Thus, the Minister is under pressure to issue a clear statement committing himself to the Wilkins measures - and one which will assuage the concerns of all parties. His choice of chair for the salmon management commission will also be very significant. "The Minister is still committed to the task force recommendations," a spokesman for Dr Woods has said. "He just doesn't believe in moving forward until there is a consensus. Otherwise, the measures will be unworkable."

For those who worked so hard to forge that consensus three years ago, this may not be good enough. A forthcoming international meeting of the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation organisation (NASC) in Westport, Co Mayo may provide the focus for some angst.

There is much rumbling in small coastal ports, and up river banks, amid warnings of a summer of discontent.