New fisheries body established

A streamlined agency which will oversee inland fishery management in the State has come into being today.

The Central Fisheries Board and the seven regional boards have been merged into Inland Fisheries Ireland.

The new body is responsible for the protection, management and conservation of the inland fishery resources across the State. Ireland has over 70,000 kilometres of rivers and streams and 144,000 hectares of lake all of which fall under its jurisdiction.

The agency, which has its headquarters in Swords, Co Dublin, is also responsible for sea angling in Ireland. It will be led by chief executive Dr Ciaran Byrne and a senior management team made up of six heads of function and seven river basin district directors.

The restructuring is part of the rationalisation of State Agencies Programme recommended in the 2009 budget. It is expected to deliver a minimum saving of €750,000 annually.

The McCarthy Report recommended that the regional fisheries boards be merged into one entity and estimated that this could save some €4million a year.

It said further savings could be achieved if the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources transferred responsibility for inland fisheries to the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government given that the overlap between inland fisheries and the provision of water. This idea has been mooted but has not yet happened.

A spokeswoman for the agency said, as a result of the merger, a number of staff whose temporary contracts have been completed would be let go. No replacements have been sanctioned by the Department of Finance, she said.

Minister of State for Natural Resources Conor Lenihan said the new body would develop and advise on policy and national strategies relating to inland fisheries.

Dr Byrne, who was appointed chief executive of the Central Fisheries Board in 2008, said the work of Inland Fisheries Ireland would be "driven by clear national policies which retain a strong regional grounding".