Inland Fisheries Ireland reflects on 2019 and its role in the protection, conservation, and management of our inland fisheries resource
E
ach year Inland Fisheries Ireland reports on its activities through its statutory annual report and financial statements. As IFI prepares its 2020 report, the 2019 report was recently laid before the Oireachtas and this report will be published in the coming weeks. Highlights of the 2019 annual report are provided in this article. Protecting and safeguarding our fisheries resource into the future is one of the key roles of Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI). The critical work carried out by our protection staff helps to conserve and protect our fisheries resource for all and safeguard it into the future. Fisheries Protection Officers spent 157,980 hours in 2019 on anti-poaching patrols. IFI personnel carry out these patrols by vehicle and on foot through different methods including the use of; boats, kayaks, PWC, quads, bicycles, air corps and drones.
The number of patrols totalled 28,274 in 2019. IFI inspection teams carry out regular checks to ensure that anglers and licence holders are in full compliance, in 2019 there was a total of 34,307 fisheries inspections. 158 Fixed Charge Penalty Notices were issued for breaches in fisheries and environmental legislation and for more serious breaches a total of 77 prosecutions were initiated and concluded in 2019. Over the course of the year 788 illegal items were seized. Among these items Illegal nets totalling a length of 9,499.48m were seized in our freshwater, at sea and along our estuaries. IFI carries out routine water quality inspections to assess levels of pollution in different habitats, water quality is the most important factor to ensure fish have a habitat where they can thrive. In 2019 staff carried out a total of 25,064 water quality inspections. The estimated number
RIB patrols with illegal nets, Galway July 2019)
40
Spring/Summer 2021 Irish Country Sports and Country Life
of fish casualties in 2019 amounted to 7,000 and these were due to various causes, such as: agricultural practise, industrial operations, municipal works, some unconfirmed and others by disease or natural causes. Inland Fisheries Ireland works with the Office of Public Works (OPW), local authorities and associated contractors to ensure protection and conservation of our fisheries resource on several multiannual flood relief schemes and other flood relief/defence projects. Some of the major flood relief works that took place in 2019 were: Dunkellin River and Aggard Stream flood relief scheme (Co. Galway), Cor River flood alleviation scheme (Co. Monaghan), Enniscorthy River flood relief scheme (Co. Wexford), the Bandon River flood relief scheme (Co. Cork) and Whitechurch Stream flood alleviation scheme (Co. Dublin). The research and development division at IFI supports operations staff to manage our fisheries resource through research that helps to build accurate knowledge about our fisheries and their habitats. Part of this work includes a programme covering individual fish species, habitats, invasive plants, surveys of individual lakes and rivers while also meeting some of Ireland’s obligations under the Water Framework Directive (WFD). In 2019 a total of 233 rivers and 16 lakes were surveyed. Twelve fish species including sea trout were recorded in river surveys. Brown
