Two opposing camps in the controversy over wild salmon management may come face to face in Killarney, Co Kerry, today at the Fianna Fáil ardfheis. Lorna Siggins, Marine Correspondent, reports.
Anglers have been summoned to support a protest organised by the Stop Salmon Drift Nets Now campaign, a new group representing angling and private fishery owner interests.
The campaign has been lobbying the Government to ban all drift and draft netting for wild salmon. Its views were echoed in a recent PD document urging a netting ban.
However, members and family associates of the Irish Salmon Traditional Netsmen's Association (ISTNA) intend to distribute booklets outlining the perspective of the commercial sector and the rights of coastal communities, according to ISTNA member Séamus de Burca.
Mr de Burca, a member of the newly-constituted National Salmon Commission (NSC), said the angling group's views had "dominated media reports at the expense of reality".
He said anglers wished to "privatise a public resource" and did not have the real interests of the wild salmon stock at heart.
Commercial fishermen had experienced a series of quota cuts while anglers would not even agree to a quota, he said.
The NSC is currently considering a report published a week ago by the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Marine and Natural Resources. This recommends a compensation and set-aside scheme for commercial salmon fishermen.