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A recent letter to The Irish Times highlights the long way Ireland has to travel if it's to position itself as a top angling destination in Europe.
Reader Kevin McDonnell from Co Cork recounts a fly-fishing trip in Norway, praising "pristine rivers accessed through open and clean farmyards ... where netting for salmon is illegal, where hydro-electric schemes allow fish to pass and provide a minimum level of water flow, even in dry conditions, to allow for the safe passage of migrating fish."
In contrast, a more recent visit to the ESB salmon fishery at Inniscarra Dam on the River Lee revealed "endless rubbish, discarded fishing line, 20m of large-diameter ESB cable by the river’s edge, bonfires, ragwort and forestry so dense that nothing grows at ground level."
McDonnell also noted the low level of water being released from the "almost full" reservoir above, and what appeared to be high levels of phosphate contamination.
Is Ireland as an angling destination "a joke" as this angler says, or is this just one side of the story? Have your say in the comments below.

A recent letter to The Irish Times highlights some stark difference between Europe and Ireland as a top angling destination.

Reader Kevin McDonnell from Co Cork recounts a fly-fishing trip in Norway, praising "pristine rivers accessed through open and clean farmyards ... where netting for salmon is illegal, where hydro-electric schemes allow fish to pass and provide a minimum level of water flow, even in dry conditions, to allow for the safe passage of migrating fish."

In contrast, a more recent visit to the ESB salmon fishery at Inniscarra Dam on the River Lee revealed "endless rubbish, discarded fishing line, 20m of large-diameter ESB cable by the river’s edge, bonfires, ragwort and forestry so dense that nothing grows at ground level."

McDonnell also noted the low level of water being released from the "almost full" reservoir above, and what appeared to be high levels of phosphate contamination.

Is Ireland as an angling destination "a joke" as this angler says, or is this just one side of the story? Have your say in the comments below.

Published in Angling

Coastal Notes Coastal Notes covers a broad spectrum of stories, events and developments in which some can be quirky and local in nature, while other stories are of national importance and are on-going, but whatever they are about, they need to be told.

Stories can be diverse and they can be influential, albeit some are more subtle than others in nature, while other events can be immediately felt. No more so felt, is firstly to those living along the coastal rim and rural isolated communities. Here the impact poses is increased to those directly linked with the sea, where daily lives are made from earning an income ashore and within coastal waters.

The topics in Coastal Notes can also be about the rare finding of sea-life creatures, a historic shipwreck lost to the passage of time and which has yet many a secret to tell. A trawler's net caught hauling more than fish but cannon balls dating to the Napoleonic era.

Also focusing the attention of Coastal Notes, are the maritime museums which are of national importance to maintaining access and knowledge of historical exhibits for future generations.

Equally to keep an eye on the present day, with activities of existing and planned projects in the pipeline from the wind and wave renewables sector and those of the energy exploration industry.

In addition Coastal Notes has many more angles to cover, be it the weekend boat leisure user taking a sedate cruise off a long straight beach on the coast beach and making a friend with a feathered companion along the way.

In complete contrast is to those who harvest the sea, using small boats based in harbours where infrastructure and safety poses an issue, before they set off to ply their trade at the foot of our highest sea cliffs along the rugged wild western seaboard.

It's all there, as Coastal Notes tells the stories that are arguably as varied to the environment from which they came from and indeed which shape people's interaction with the surrounding environment that is the natural world and our relationship with the sea.