THE number of Irish drift-net salmon fishermen could be halved as a result of new legislation to be drafted this week.

The crackdown follows a scientific report on Irish rivers revealing that only 14% of those with salmon have enough fish to maintain a sustainable population.

The National Salmon Commission study revealed that 86% of Irish freshwater salmon habitats are at risk of losing the fish entirely. Of that, 59% are so badly depleted that the report recommends a fishing ban to protect the remaining salmon.

Joey Murrin, the chairman of the commission, said a new Control of Fishing for Salmon Order, the first such law since 1980, will be discussed on Tuesday. Murrin refused to discuss the details, but admitted: “There’s not enough fish for the licences out there. It’s as simple as that.”

Ireland is the last country in Europe to allow fishing with drift nets, which can be as much as six miles long at sea.

Officials in the Department of the Marine say the number of commercial net-fishing licences will be reduced significantly by the new conditions. The main change will be a “use or lose it” clause, meaning licence-holders must have been fishing actively for the previous three years.

Another proposal to restrict netsmen to fish near where they live could be dropped, however, because Rory Brady, the attorney-general, is said to be concerned that such restrictions could be unconstitutional.

The idea of buying out the country’s 1,500 drift-net fishermen, as Scotland has done, has been rejected by the government on cost grounds. “We’ve got to get the figures down first,” said an official. “If it came down to 500 licences, the possibility of a buy-out is live.

“There are guys with licences catching four or five fish a season, just waiting for a golden handshake. The problem is that, four years ago, fishermen were led to believe they’d get €100,000 each from the government. But there are no fairy godmothers in this.”

The falling numbers of salmon mean commercial fishermen cannot catch as many fish as they are allowed. But Scotland and Iceland, which both banned drift-net fishing, had the biggest salmon catch by inland anglers for more than 20 years in 2004.

Orri Vigfusson, an Icelandic millionaire and chairman of the North Atlantic Salmon Fund, who has brokered compensation and buy-out deals between governments and commercial net fishermen throughout Europe, says Irish salmon fishing policy is greedy, ridiculous and destructive.

“Every country bordering the Atlantic has decided to end net fishing for salmon except Ireland,” said Vigfusson. “They have no respect for the amount of salmon going around the Irish coast. Serious restoration programmes in Europe cannot even begin until we have this problem solved.

Ireland’s key location on the migratory route of European salmon has always meant more drift netters here than elsewhere. Inland anglers argue that apart from the destruction of stocks, net fishing is economically pointless. Vigfusson points out that the 35,000 salmon caught in Iceland, all caught on the rod, contributed almost €100m to the economy.

“You have 10 times more salmon in Ireland, so it’s absolutely ridiculous that you’re still drift-netting,” he said.

A report in 2003 by Indecon consultants calculated the average value to the economy of a net-caught salmon at €22, while a salmon caught on the rod was worth €423.

Bob Wemyss of the Stop Salmon Drift Nets Now campaign says that net fishing must go if the Irish salmon is to survive.

But Murrin says no ban is planned, and he doesn’t believe the government will force people out of the business. “Until we get to a situation where fishermen want to go themselves, that’s the whole key,” he said. “But there’s too many of them; it’s as simple as that.”

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