Inland Fisheries Ireland Protection Officers coming to the forefront during Covid19
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out of work during the crisis and this may have resulted in them having more time on their hands. Nationally a total of 91 nets, measuring 5,300 metres have been seized to July 2020 since the beginning of the year. Inland Fisheries Ireland’s fisheries protection officers boarded a fishing boat off the Cork coast and seized 98kg of salmon and 256m of illegal net. The seizure was secured on Monday the 13th Monofilament Net seized at Inisdooey Island in late May. of July 2020 by Western River Basin District. Inland Fisheries Ireland staff based Unfortunately similar seizures have in the Cork district of the South taken place around the country recently. Since the beginning of this year Protection Officers in the SWRBD have seized 50% more nets than they had seized in the whole of 2019. The selling of illegal wild salmon is a lucrative trade and is damaging our already at risk salmon stocks. Illegal nets are being staked in estuaries at the mouths of rivers and catching migrating salmon that are trying to return to their home river to spawn. It is important that these salmon are able to reach their home river because it is the peak of the salmon run, in which wild salmon return to 27 untagged salmon seized from a vehicle in West Donegal in early July. ncidents of poaching have seen an increase since the beginning of the Covid19 pandemic. Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) protection staff around the country have reported an upsurge in activity in all River Basin Districts. Initially during lockdown, Inland Fisheries Ireland had to restrict patrols, however staff continued to respond to known threats and intelligence. IFI protection staff are now fully back at work however staff are still restricted to one person per vehicle to ensure Covid19 protocols are adhered to, staff have adapted to this and have been using a selection of vehicles including, bicycles, quads, kayaks and boats as well as cars when they are out on patrols. Another factor that may have brought about an increase in poaching incidents could have been that some poachers may have been
Irish Country Sports and Country Life Autumn 2020
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