A "very noticeable" improvement in wild salmon stocks has allowed Minister for Natural Resources Eamon Ryan to reopen 27 rivers for salmon angling and driftnetting.
Mr Ryan has also allocated €4 million in additional funding to regional fishery boards to "reinforce protection" of the stock.
New regulations and bylaws, advertised by Mr Ryan's department this week, permit the opening of 77 rivers in total for salmon angling and driftnetting in estuaries, although 76 will remain closed for conservation reasons.
Some 21 of the 77 rivers will be subject to "catch and release", whereby fish must be returned alive to the water. Revised total allowable catches have been issued for commercial fishing in estuaries.
Announcing the measures yesterday, Mr Ryan said the ban on driftnetting, which was introduced last year, resulted in only 8,846 salmon being caught, compared to 86,400 fish in 2006. Even where a quota was allocated to commercial licence holders in estuaries, the figures in many areas show a surplus.
"This represents a reduction of over 77,000 [almost 90 per cent] in salmon caught by commercial fishing in 2007," he said.
However, Mr Ryan told The Irish Times that it would not be correct to attribute any stock level improvement to the drift net ban alone.
"The numbers of wild salmon returning to our shores depend on a range of issues, including climate change and water quality in rivers," he said.
"The ban on driftnetting makes it easier for us to focus on those bigger issues, which still pose a threat to the stock. There has been a very noticeable improvement and I am very glad to see some benefits one year on."
The Government allocated €25 million last year to compensate driftnet licence holders, with an additional €5 million for Leader groups based in coastal communities. Legal action is still being considered by part-time commercial catchers in some areas where economic alternatives are limited.
National Salmon Commission chairman Joey Murrin has also expressed concern in the past about the impact of transferring a resource without adequate monitoring of angler activity.
To date, the new Minister has not met Mr Murrin in his capacity as chairman of the ministerial advisory body on the resource.
Mr Ryan said he hoped everyone, including anglers, would "buy into proper management, when they see positive results like this".
Poaching on rivers was not the only issue which had to be addressed by fishery boards, he said, as water quality was also a challenge.
Mr Ryan said the decision to allocate wild salmon management to his department - while commercial fishing has been transferred to Minister for Agriculture Mary Coughlan - tied in with his departmental responsibilities. "Management of rivers is a scientific issue, we have much of that expertise in communications, energy and natural resources . . . and I see salmon as a natural resource," he said.
However, an inter-departmental group had been established involving Ms Coughlan's department, he said.
Changes have also been made in the allocation of tags to salmon licence holders, with extra tags permitted in rivers open for spring fishery which have "sufficient capacity".
Fisheries reopened extend from the south and west - including the Slaney, Glengarriff, Argideen, Owvane, Adrigole, Sheen, Kealincha, Lough Fada, Culfin, and Newport river to the Drumcliff, Garavogue and Gweedore rivers in the north-west.
Full details are online at http://www.dcmnr.gov.ie/Natural/Inland+Fisheries+and+Marine+Research/Inland+Fisheries
