Angling tourism's potential cited

IF a factory opened in north Mayo its employment potential would be "heralded far and wide". Yet Mayo's own Moy fishery is one of those fine natural resources which is taken for granted on this island.

In fact, the £54 million tourism angling sector has "very significant potential" for further development, the Minister of State for the Marine, Mr Eamon Gilmore, said yesterday when he published the 1995 Tourism Angling Activity Report The Minister said angling both extends the tourist season and redistributes income to regions with few other attractions.

However, there needs to be far more investment in marketing of tourism angling, be said. There are "millions" of anglers in Europe who could be attracted to this island, Mr William McLysaght, chairman of the Central Fisheries Board added yesterday.

It is understood the current marketing budget for this sector under Bord Failte is less than £10,000, a fraction of the £19 million investment in the sector through the EU Operational Programme for Tourism.

Speaking at the National Concert Hall in Dublin, the Minister of State said the £8 million committed to 70 angling projects spread throughout the country to date represented the first phase in the £19 million EU investment.

The Economic and Social Research Institute had estimated that the average angler spends £500 here, and the 1995 activity report highlighted some of the key investments designed to conserve stocks and improve fish habitats, he said.

Game angling is still the major recipient, with some 80 per cent of the funding directed towards such projects. Referring to the distribution, Mr Gilmore said there was a need to re-examine the current situation, and he was particularly glad to see that sea-angling had received a boost.

Among the projects assisted has been the enhancement programme on one of the world's most renowned salmon fisheries, the Moy.

A £90,000 project provided some 14 new angling places on a previously undeveloped stretch of the river in Ballina, known as the Cathedral Beat. Some 29 existing places were improved to cater for the demand from anglers. After these developments, 920 extra tourist anglers were accommodated in Ballina this year, and it is estimated they spent about £300,000.

A £1 million project is being funded under the measure to address the decline in the wild brown trout stocks on the great western lakes of Corrib, Mask and Carra. A £30,000 investment at Grantstown Lake in Co Laois returned an estimated £134,000 to the economy.

Other projects have included sea-trout restocking and enhancement of the sea-trout habitat by the Salmon Research Agency in Newport, Co Mayo, and pre-development surveys on the river Dee in Co Louth, the upper Barrow, the Kerry Blackwater and the Maigue in Co Limerick.