THE Government's salmon management task force has said that a ban on drift nets would be unenforceable and has called for a change in the salmon season and an outer six mile limit on coastal fishing of the stock.
A drift net ban would not contribute significantly to better management, it says. Tagging at sale is the most effective way to eliminate poaching and illegal fishing, but this must be introduced on an all Ireland basis. Irish salmon stocks are not in a poor state, it says.
The report by the Salmon Management Task Force, which is due to be published by the Minister of State for the Marine, Mr Eamon Gilmore, today, recommends establishing a new salmon management commission, a reconstitution of fisheries boards to reflect wider community involvement, and new licensing arrangements for anglers.
It recommends delaying the annual draft net and drift net seasons to May 15th and June 1st respectively, to run until a later date of August 31st, subject to quota. A total allowable catch (TAC) and quota system is also recommended.
An outer limit of six miles for catching at sea would not only meet a "moral obligation" to an international fishery, but would also contribute to conservation, the report suggests. The nearer the catchment is to the river mouth, the more likely that the nets used will seize only those fish destined for that estuary, it says.
The report is the first major initiative on the controversial stock in a decade, and is also the first to give express recognition to the right to fish salmon in the sea.
"Real pragmatism demands that we recognise that harvesting the resource in the rivers, and not in the sea, redistributes wealth from coastal to inland communities, and that the coastal communities realise and resent this," it says.
Calls to find alternative jobs for displaced salmon netsmen cannot be easily fulfilled, do not meet communities' needs and are, fundamentally, negative and defeatist, it says.
The report demands an equitable sharing of the resource and notes that there has been a drop in the uptake of drift net licences in recent years. The price of wild salmon has fallen, and it has heard evidence of commercial catchers resorting to selling salmon to fish farmers during a glut period.
Yet continued "vociferous calls" for a ban on drift netting have contributed to the "aggressively defensive" intransigent and polarised position of the commercial sector, it says.
In contrast to that last initiative - the 1987 Report of the Salmon Review Group - which was compiled by civil servants, this task force involved industry representatives. It considered over 230 submissions and held regional and international consultations, under the chairmanship of Prof Noel P. Wilkins, associate professor of zoology at University College Galway.
There are up to 40 ways of killing a salmon in sea and fresh water, including pollution. Legal drift netting is not only, and may not even be, the main cause of perceived decline in salmon, it says.
Stressing that catch statistics must be improved, the report says - far too many State agencies are involved in the resource, and there is no clear co operation. Other recommendations include:
. Ban on driftnets unenforceable
. A six mile limit on sea fishing salmon
. Change in salmon season
. Tagging carcases at sale the most effective way to eliminate poaching and illegal fishing
. Change in legislation to outlaw non tagged fish
. Reconstitution of fisheries boards to reflect wider community involvement
. New licensing arrangements for anglers
. A total allowable catch and quota system
. Radical improvement in catch statistics, with measurement of spawning escapement in all State rivers
. Training by BIM to improve quality and marketing of wild Irish salmon
. Further research on seals and a seal management programme
