Warning over Northern Ireland salmon population – Fisheries Management Scotland

Netting for salmon around the coast of Northern Ireland could be having a potentially serious effect on the breeding population.

Describing the continued exploitation of salmon as “untenable”, Culture, Arts and Leisure Minister Caral Ni Chuilin, has already asked for a voluntary ban on all netting and is asking anglers not to kill any salmon they catch but to throw them back.

In a written statement to the Northern Ireland Assembly she went further, pointing the finger at drift and bag netting near key salmon rivers.

The statement said that if the department did not ask for the voluntary action it would be in breach of the EC Habitats Directive and NASCO guidelines.