A second public consultation on the draft Wild Salmon and Sea Trout Tagging Scheme Regulations 2026 is being held to provide a further opportunity to comment before they are finalised.
The second public consultation commenced on Wednesday 4 February and will be open until 5.30pm on Thursday 5 March.
Details on this second public consultation can be found on the Gov.ie website.
The public consultation sets out the following:
- The draft Wild Salmon and Sea Trout Tagging Scheme (Amendment) Regulations 2025, with proposed conservation measures for 2026 season
- An information note setting out the proposed changes for 2026 season with reasons for same
These draft amendment regulations include the revised quotas and catch options for anglers associated with the individual rivers for the 2026 season.
The proposed new conservation measures for the 2026 season include the following:
- Reduction in salmon angling bag limit from 10 fish to seven fish per angler per season. restricted to the period from 1 June to 31 August
- Rivers with an angling harvest option to open as follows:
- Catch and release only from 1 January to 31 May 1st in the interest of conserving spring fish
- Open for harvest from 1 June to 31 August (subject to a daily bag limit of three fish and season bag limit of seven fish) per person during this period; once the daily or season bag limit is reached, anglers must practice catch and release only)
- Catch and release only from 1 September to the end of the season
- Catch and release thresholds align with scientific advice: rivers must meet a minimum of 65 per cent of the conservation limit or 17 fry average per five minutes of catchment-wide electro-fishing to qualify for catch and release angling
- Commercial fishing season revised to commence from 1 June to 31 July in the interest of conserving spring fish
