Ireland’s stocks of wild salmon are under serious threat. Pollution, habitat degradation and poor water-quality management have all contributed to what the just-published report by the Independent Salmon Group (ISG) describes as “a catastrophic decline”. The greatest threat by far to the species, however, is the commercial overexploitation of our seas by drift-net fishing.

The debate about the ISG’s recommended ban on drift nets is, therefore, a crucial one. If the government is dissuaded by pressure from backbench Fianna Fail TDs or sectional lobbying from implementing the ban, petty politics will finally wipe out a species that has already been devastated by neglect and greed.

The scientific findings made by the ISG, an expert body established by the cabinet last March, are unequivocal. Salmon are becoming scarce everywhere in the Atlantic, but the situation is especially grave on the Irish coast. The number of migratory fish returning to our rivers is estimated at less than one third of what it was in the 1970s and 1980s.

As stocks dwindle, the group argues that the only option is a ban on salmon nets, which, it says, should be introduced as soon as January 1, 2007. The ISG points out that, in order to avoid further infringement fines, Ireland must comply by next year with the European Union’s habitat directive, a ruling that also demands an end to drift-net fishing.

A sustainable abundance of wild salmon in Irish waterways is a precious natural resource, both an important part of our heritage and a key component in the future growth of the national economy. Tourism chiefs at Failte Ireland plan to develop salmon angling into a €100m industry by 2009, doubling the number of fishing tourists we already attract from Britain, France, Germany and America. If we fail to halt the decline of stocks, however, we will not maintain our reputation as a prime angling destination.

Like reforms in many areas where the state holds sway, the conservation measures advocated by the ISG have already been delayed for too long by political cowardice and administrative indecision.

Noel Dempsey, the minister for communications, marine and natural resources, has shown commendable resolve in trying to push the question of salmon preservation up the political agenda. Most of his cabinet colleagues, however, have thus far remained publicly silent on the issue, clearly fearful that an organised campaign against a drift-net ban could become yet another focus for voter disaffection as the general election approaches.

Antagonism to the ISG’s recommendations is certainly building among Fianna Fail backbenchers, led not surprisingly by deputies from constituencies with strong fishing traditions such as Cork, Waterford and Donegal.

As parish-pump politicians talk up the prospects of defeating the ban, off-shore fishermen’s groups and other vested interests have been emboldened to believe that a resistance campaign can be mounted along the lines of the rod licence protests of the early 1990s.

Beyond emotive arguments about salmon- netting as an ancient family tradition, opponents of the ban have an unconvincing case to make. Large-scale salmon fishing is already a dying industry. In the past five years, the annual allowable commercial catch has been halved, making it an increasingly unprofitable livelihood.

A generous state fund of €30m will be put in place to compensate fishermen for loss of income and stimulate alternative economic activity in communities affected by the ban. The suggestion that the withdrawal of drift-nets should be voluntary and phased in over three years is unfeasible, and ignores the urgency of the problem.

With the ISG report, the government has all the information and advice it needs at its fingertips. What is required now to preserve the future of Irish salmon is decisive action.

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