Madam, - At a recent meeting of Waterford Council, councillors Geoff Power (FF) and John Carey (FG) supported the case of the commercial salmon netters. While we have to recognise the plight of these men's livelihoods, we must also consider the plight of a species in severe trouble, the salmon.
We have already witnessed the extinction of sea trout from many rivers along our west coast with no action or remorse from our politicians. If current trends continue, the salmon may suffer the same fate.
Would the aforementioned councillors' time not be better spent trying to persuade the Government to compensate the nets men in order to make their nets redundant? As with many companies and some well-known semi-State bodies, when times are hard, redundancies are called for. Surely this would be a logical way to save a silver tourist that is worth much more on the end of a line than in a net. - Yours, etc.,
BRIAN WALSH, Grosvenor Terrace, Monkstown, Co Dublin.