4th October 2005

IHF CALLS FOR GOVT POLICY ON BANNING NETTING

The Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) has welcomed the Progressive Democrat’s (PDs) decision to call for a ban on salmon drift netting at sea and has urged the Government to implement this policy at the earliest opportunity.  The hotel and guesthouse representative body believes the current situation is leading to a decline in angling tourism as well as the level of salmon stocks, and along with other tourism organisations had recently called for the phasing out of salmon drift netting. 

The IHF stressed that the practice of drift netting is having an extremely detrimental effect on angling tourism in this country with a 50% reduction in the number of angling tourists coming to Ireland over the last six years.  This is despite the fact that the average contribution to the economy for a wild salmon caught by an angling tourist is estimated to be €423 compared to €22 for one caught by drift netting. 

Mr. John Power, IHF Chief Executive said, “Angling tourism is a vital asset to our economy and needs to be protected.  It contributes €55 million to the economy every year but despite this we have seen a substantial drop in the number of angling tourists coming to this country, from 54,000 to 27,000 since 1999.  The overwhelming evidence is that this sharp fall is due to the withering decline in our fish stocks, particularly the salmon stocks.  This decline can be clearly traced to the impact of drift netting.”

The importance of angling to regional tourism was also emphasized by the IHF, pointing to the fact that angling tourism increases the spread of tourism all around the country.  “Recent consumer research has shown that the biggest challenge facing the marketing of Irish tourism is the effective communication of compelling reasons to come to Ireland.  Angling tourism is one of the holiday products that can be successfully developed if properly managed and protected.  With recent tourism reports showing a shortening of the period of holiday stays it is worth noting that the average length of stay in Ireland for an angling tourist is over 14 days.”

The PDs recently published a position paper on this subject drafted by Senator John Dardis which calls for commercial license holders to be compensated by the Government so as to put a stop to the practice of drift netting.  The paper also stresses that “the balance of national economic interest is overwhelmingly with salmon angling not salmon netting”.

Mr. Power endorsed Senator Dardis’s view saying, “The proposals put forward in Senator Dardis’s policy paper would address the very real problems we are having in this area.  It would stop the interceptory nature of the salmon drift netting at sea and would lead to an increase in our salmon stocks.  That in turn should create positive feedback internationally, where our current practices have received extremely negative publicity, and lead once more to an increase in angling tourism.”

“We hope that Senator Dardis’s colleagues in Government will realize the benefit of introducing such proposals and we look forward to seeing Minister for the Marine, Pat the Cope Gallagher put them into action at the earliest possible opportunity,” Mr. Power concluded.

ENDS

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