A Moratorium on drift-netting for salmon for four or five years is needed to halt the dramatic decline in stocks, according to the director of the Salmon Research Agency, Dr Ken Whelan.
Speaking during the closing session of the fifth International Atlantic Salmon Symposium in Galway on Friday, Dr Whelan said proper financial supports should be put in place for the 1,400 families who depend on drift-netting while the fishery was closed.
Immediate action was needed to halt the decline, he said, as was a comprehensive transatlantic approach to the problem.
Although definitive figures will not be compiled until the salmon season ends at the end of the month, this year's catch is estimated at about 120,000 fish, or half the average catch just four years ago, according to Dr Whelan. Most of the fish caught are grilse, as stocks of older salmon collapsed 10 years ago.
The president emeritus of the Atlantic Salmon Federation, Dr Wilfred Carter, called on the British and Irish governments to introduce a complete ban on drift-net fishing for salmon. "Part of the package of actions that need to take place should include some mechanism for stopping drift-net fishing wherever it is occurring," he said.
"The catching of mixed populations of salmon at sea is bad salmon management because you can't separate the abundant stocks from the scarce stocks. As a biological principle, drift-netting for salmon is bad," Dr Carter said.
The chairman of the Atlantic Salmon Trust, Col Bill Bewsher, said there was "no longer justification" for drift-net fisheries in Irish and British waters. "The level of exploitation in rod and line fisheries must also come under the spotlight," he said.
"There is increasing evidence of the need for a reduction, in some cases a substantial reduction, in many river systems."
ONE fisheries administrator who attended the conference as an observer told The Irish Times that the call for a complete ban on drift-netting for salmon went against the co-operative approach adopted by the previous government with the Salmon Management Task Force. He said the decline in salmon stocks was not as dramatic as had been described during the conference.
Under the existing policy, the rights of drift-net fishermen were balanced against conservation needs. Although tough restrictions on the fishery were put in place, its vital social and economic role in the survival of coastal communities was recognised, he said.
Responding to the criticisms, Dr Whelan told The Irish Times that his estimate for this year's catch was based on figures supplied by the Central Fisheries Board. The debate had moved on from one about management to the survival of vital stocks of spawning salmon, he said. "You are not talking about a surplus and a fight about who gets the surplus. We are very worried that the surplus just isn't there."