The Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources, Mr Fahey, has called on all anglers to cease fishing as part of the drive to prevent the spread of foot-and-mouth disease to this State. "Anglers are in a particular position to help in view of their contact with farmland to access rivers and lakes", he said.
Precautionary measures to be adopted include: promoters to encourage visiting anglers not to travel at this time; no permits to be issued for State fisheries; private fishery-owners to cease operating; all angling competitions to be cancelled and fisheries boards to refrain from stocking and transferring fish in freshwater.
The Minister has also called on all clubs and organisations to desist from angling to avoid risk to the livestock resource. "While some anglers may be disappointed, the overall good is best served at this time by everybody playing their part", he said.
In response to the call from the Minister, the Trout Angling Federation of Ireland (TAFI) has cancelled its a.g.m. scheduled for Sunday, March 11th, at the Hodson Bay Hotel, Athlone, and the lakes at Ballyhass, Mallow, Co Cork, have been closed since last Thursday.
Stop Press: The Irish Specimen Fish Committee has decided to postpone the annual specimen fish awards day which was scheduled for Saturday, March 10th, in the Burlington Hotel.
A proposal by Wicklow County Council to close off sections of beaches to anglers has been met with "abhorrence" by the Leinster Provincial Council (LPC) of the Irish Federation of Sea Anglers.
Wicklow County Council has sought to restrict access to anglers at Greystones and Brittas Bay (north and south) under "draft beach by-laws for the county health district of Wicklow". The council says these measures are needed to ensure Wicklow retains its EU Blue Flag status on these respective beaches.
For its part, the LPC is the most frequent user of this great natural resource and regularly hosts competitions from club events to international festivals. In the recent past the world championships took place along the Wicklow beaches and was hailed as one the best competitions ever staged.
As an expression of the sincere anxiety of these "draconian" proposals, a representative group of anglers will take part in a local "Angling Day of Protest" tomorrow on the South Beach, Greystones, at 2 p.m. All anglers are invited.
The future prosperity of Ireland's rivers and waterways was considerably enhanced this week with the introduction of a new information series on catchment management and a pledge by the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources of an additional £2 million towards the 2001 programme.
Entitled "From Source to Sea" and produced by the Central Fisheries Board (CFB), the information pack provides the necessary tools to increase public awareness in catchment management and will be of immense educational benefit to schools and all interested groups.
Commenting on Tuesday, the chief executive of CFB, Mr John O'Connor, said: "Catchment management is a collective approach to the sustainability of our inland fisheries based on a process of consultation with the stakeholders to ensure these resources are preserved for future generations."
Correspondence and fishy photographs to The Irish Times, D'Olier Street, Dublin 2. Fax: 6791881. e-mail: angling@irish-times.ie
