Irish sea anglers are invited to participate in an Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) online survey which will help to inform how activities relate to stock levels.
The online survey “seeks to collect information on the behaviours, attitudes and catch preferences of all Irish sea anglers”, the State agency says.
The work which is supported by the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) will be analysed by IFI researchers.
IFI head of research and development Dr Cathal Gallagher said there are approximately 126,000 sea anglers in Ireland and “we hope that they will help us to find out how often people go fishing, what they catch and what they release”.
“Sea angling is an important activity here in Ireland and we want to ensure the future of marine fisheries resource,”he said.
“The data collected will help us to make informed decisions on how to best estimate sea angling catches in Ireland. This catch data will inform management decisions and will prevent the use of worst case scenarios, which can happen when there is a degree of uncertainty surrounding information,”he added.
The survey will take approximately 10-20 minutes to complete, IFI says.
Participants will receive an Angling Ireland neck buff and line clipper for taking part, and tackle vouchers valued up to 200 euro are also on offer in a draw.
The survey is here
