The Government's policy on the management of wild salmon appears to be in trouble, following the decision by one of the largest angling bodies to stage a national campaign of protest.
The Federation of Irish Salmon and Sea Trout Anglers (FISSTA) has promised the campaign will be "extreme" - an echo of similar warnings before the rod licence war of over a decade ago.
FISSTA has accused the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources, Mr Fahey, of failing to deliver on a promise to fund a buy-out of commercial salmon fishermen.
It is also seeking long-term tenure on "traditional waters owned by the State" for angling clubs in Kerry, Mayo and Donegal. In the meantime, it has called on all its members, numbering some 19,000 in 91 clubs, to withdraw from co-operating with several new conservation measures introduced last year, including logbooks and tagging of salmon.
The measures were initiated by the Minister's advisory body, the National Salmon Commission, in an attempt to gain an accurate read on salmon stocks, as there are no reliable national statistics. However, there are signs of growing frustration within the commission on the Minister's stance on the issue. It is understood that the chairman, Mr Joey Murrin, has been seeking a clear direction from Mr Fahey for some months now in relation to the future of commercial fishing.
The commission, under the chairmanship of Mr Murrin's predecessor, Prof Noel Wilkins, had favoured a set-aside scheme for commercial fishermen, as opposed to buy-out which it had found to be unconstitutional. Documents re- leased to The Irish Times under the Freedom of Information Act confirm that Prof Wilkins tendered his resignation last year because he felt the Minister had undermined the role and standing of his group.
The correspondence reveals that the NUI Galway academic tend- ered his resignation after the Minister intervened in the commission's work on introducing salmon logbooks. These were initiated as part of a series of conservation measures which the commission was charged with implementing.
In a letter to the Minister on March 1st, 2001, Prof Wilkins refers to a meeting the Minister held with a group of anglers, and his subsequent decision to alter the logbook requirements for the 2001 season.
"There is no dispute regarding your right to do this," Prof Wilkins wrote. "However, an unintended but foreseeable consequence of your decision, which culminated your engagement over recent months with this group, was that the role and standing of the National Salmon Commission was undermined." The anglers' group and others, he wrote, "now know that, for the future, the way to achieve their objectives, independently of the interest of all others, is by a direct approach and not through the commission".
The former chairman noted that the Minister had informed the Dáil on February 8th of his decision to make the alteration. "It is difficult to see how the commission can now advise you on it and still remain fully independent," Prof Wilkins wrote. "Your instruction could appear to encroach on the freedom of the commission to take its own independent view on the matter." He said he found it impossible to call a meeting of the commission on the Minister's instruction, while at the same time preserving its independence.
In a response to Prof Wilkins, dated March 7th, the Minister said he was satisfied his decision on the logbook alteration was the appropriate response to "the genuinely held concerns expressed to me". He said he did not believe direct contact between himself and other stakeholders "had the effect of undermining the work of the commission". He said he accepted Prof Wilkins's resignation "with re- gret", and acknowledged the valuable contribution he had made to the development of national strategies on salmon.
Ironically, establishment of the National Salmon Commission was one of the first initiatives taken by the Minister after his predecessor, Dr Michael Woods, had shelved a recommendation to set it up. A review carried out under the chairmanship of Prof Wilkins by the previous government on salmon policy had advised that such a body be established to monitor a new community-based conservation strategy.
Such a body should be independent of existing agencies, involving representatives of all interests, and "answering directly to the Minister", the report said.
In a separate development, the Labour Party appears to have shifted its stance on the issue of salmon. Several recent statements from its marine and natural resources spokesman, Mr Michael Bell TD, have pledged that if returned to government, Labour would introduce an absolute ban on all drift-net, draft-net and snap-net fishing for salmon.
This is in contrast to the position taken by his party colleague, Mr Eamon Gilmore, who was a Democratic Left junior marine minister when he initiated the task force on salmon more than five years ago. The task force report was published after extensive consultation involving all stakeholders. It advised that an absolute ban would be unworkable, and took a more constructive approach to the rights of coastal communities in relation to the resource.
The Irish Traditional Fishermen's Association has criticised Mr Bell, saying Labour's policy would ensure that "eventually all salmon would end up as a multi-million pound bonanza for the landed gentry of vast estates whose lands have salmon rivers running through them".
