The Erne Salmon - A Lesson from America
The disastrous decline in wild stock returning to the River Erne,
once the foremost salmon river in Ireland, is causing widespread
alarm among anglers and environmentalists north and south, and
well beyond the country's borders.
The mismanagement of the fishery is giving Ireland a black eye
in the European Union, many members of which have shown by their
actions that they understand the need for natural fisheries conservation.
By contrast, squabbling over riparian rights between the state
and angling clubs, the costs of protection, and the lure of potential
profits from hatchery spawned salmon have detracted from the main
concern, the preservation and growth of the natural stock, now
threatened with extinction not only on the Erne but on other rivers
as well.
Let's go over the story once more.
Until the advent of the E.S.B. hydro-electricity generating plant
and the construction of two reservoir dams within a short distance
of each other on the river between the towns of Ballyshannon and
Belleek, the Erne was blessed with an abundance of salmon.
A poorly designed fish pass and a management focused on promoting
artificial hatcheries have since wrought havoc with the wild stock.
Figures speak for themselves. In 1997/98 the E.S.B. fish pass
recorded a total of 1,061 wild salmon passing through it, and
in 1999 just 349, a staggering decline of 66%.
Two years later, in 2001, diseased salmon were found dying in
numbers in the fish pass, in the tailrace from the Cathleen's
Falls dam, and in the estuary into which the tailrace flows. Marine
scientists in Ireland have as yet been unable to determine the
cause.
One argument advanced in favour of hatchery reared salmon must
be exposed as fallacious. It is an absolute pretence to hold that
hatchery salmon are no different from wild salmon. How often have
we heard the saying: "It's all in the genes"? In this
case it is demonstrably true.
Hatchery salmon are grown from eggs that represent only a fraction
of the gene pool of wild salmon. As a result they are vulnerable
to disease.
Not only that, when released into waters shared with wild salmon,
they damage that stock.
A telling example was the release by the Oregon Department of
Fish and Wildlife of hatchery raised coho salmon into coastal
streams to boost the population of wild coho.
Quoting from a news report:
"What happened was the opposite. Juvenile hatchery densities
increased by 50 percent, while wild juvenile fish decreased by
50 percent."
"We concluded," the agency reported, "that release
of hatchery coho into coastal streamsd has
hurt coho populations
rather than helped them."
Fortunately a growing number of spokespersons have taken the
plight of the salmon to heart. With awareness of the looming disaster
growing, there is hope that an informed public will demand that
their representatives at all levels will act to save the famed
wild salmon of the Erne.
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