It is time to act. Now. The wild salmon fishery on the River Erne is nearing the brink of extinction.

Is this an alarmist statement? Yes. That is what it is meant to be. And there is every justification for making it.

The ESB Fisheries Conservation Report 2000, presented to the Minister of Marine and Natural Resources, contains a number of alarming facts about the fishery.

"During 1999 a total of 1862 salmon were intercepted at the Cathaleen's Fall trap.….Of these a total of 349 fish with full adipose fins were deemed to be wild and released upstream."

In plain, blunt language, only 349 wild salmon returned to spawn in 1999, as recorded by the board charged with the management of the fishery.

The statement is to be found at page 33 of the report under the heading "Adult Salmon Census/Return Rates".

At page 32 of the report is found the damning admission:

"Significant naturally spawned juvenile salmon populations are not thought to exist in the cascade catchment at present."

A reduction in the annual number of wild fish from over 10,000 to 349 should be enough to convince everyone, angler, commercial fisherman, environmentalist, bureaucrat, manager, and minister, that the Erne wild salmon fishery is facing extinction.

The situation has reached a crisis point. If allowed to continue, the present rate of decline in wild salmon stock could lead to its eclipse within ten years.

Even though ESB management, by its own count, has failed miserably to conserve the natural salmon stock, this is not the time to point the finger and assign responsibility for failure. But it is time for action.

For more than a year an energetic local group has been active in promoting a solution designed to enhance and rehabilitate the lower Erne catchment basin, a plan to save the natural salmon stock from extinction, a plan based on the successful implementation of similar proposals in other jurisdictions.

Public support is essential. United public support. Active public support.
And leadership. Local leadership. National leadership.