News [2008] [2007] [2006] [2005] [2004] [2003] [2002] [2001] [2000] [1999] [1998] [1997]

Delphi Fishery Report - 2001

Good year yields 752 salmon

The 2001 salmon fishing season at Delphi started brilliantly in February, then shuddered to a complete halt for most of March due to the foot-and-mouth disease crisis. Revived in early April, with record catches of spring salmon, the fishing remained good to very good right throughout June and July, before stumbling somewhat amid the doldrums of late summer.

In all, 752 salmon and 546 sea trout were caught at Delphi in 2001. This pushes the rolling 5-year average salmon catch up to a very respectable 672. Most (xxx) of the fish were taken by fly, keeping Delphi very close to the top of Ireland’s salmon fly-fishing league.

Overall, it will be logged as the third best year in Delphi’s salmon fishing history – almost matching the catch total of 1997 (765 salmon), but falling short of the remarkable record set in 1998 (1089 salmon). It seems likely that the No.2 spot would have been secured had the March fishing not been lost.

Once more, the Delphi stocking programme, under which at least 50,000 extra salmon smolts are released each April, delivered spectacular results. Salmon from the hatchery programmme accounted for 84% of the catch total. The hatchery contributed greatly to spring salmon catches, as well as producing unexpectedly large numbers of grilse.

The wild salmon catch was also above average, with 122 fish. This bucked the downward trend on many other western fisheries, though the neighbouring River Erriff also fared well.

While extremes of weather, especially long dry spells, will always hamper good fishing at Delphi, the hatchery programme now seems capable of supplying consistently big runs of salmon – and big rod catches - where river levels permit.

Barring a serious drought (which some observers consider overdue), the fishing forecast for 2002 (based on the number of smolts released and the migration conditions in 2000 & 2001) is for another good year, with a catch of at least 400 fish, including good numbers of springers.

Among the 2001 season’s highlights were the following:

• John Mills caught two fresh-run springers on opening day – the first time in Delphi’s history that more than one fish has been caught on February 1st. Both were hatchery-origin fish.
• The catch of 28 springers in February was a new record for that month at Delphi, as was the total of 39 spring fish taken in April (Oh, what might have happened if the fishing had been open in March!)
• Walter Langenberger reached a major milestone with his 250th Delphi salmon. Urs Liebundgut from Switzerland logged his 150th Delphi salmon and Bill Horne from Kenya reached the 50 mark.
• Walter & Urs were also the top two rods for the season, with 43 and 33 salmon respectively.
• The biggest fish of the season weighed 16 pounds 2 ounces and was taken by Angus Sutherland from the Rock Pool in February. A few days later, the same pool also yielded a fish for Werner Zirngibl that he estimated at well over 15 pounds. In all, 22 fish weighed ten pounds or more.
• Helen Elliott-Cooper hooked and landed two 3-pound grilse on the same cast from the Whin Pool in July. While double hook-ups do happen occasionally, this was probably the first time that both fish have actually been landed.
• Fishery manager David McEvoy bagged three fish from small pools on the Owengarr River between Finlough & Doolough. But fishing this river will not normally be encouraged since it is an important nursery area for parr.
• Syndicate member Simon Albertini at last bagged his first springer, after many years of trying. His fat 11-pounder took a Munroe Killer on Finlough and the ensuing celebrations will become the stuff of legend. Simon reckons the fish cost him £15,000 but was worth it..
• First-ever salmon were caught by 21 debutantes during the season (see table).
• The best pools on the river were Whin (63 fish), Meadow (51), Quarry (50), Turn (46) and Rock (26). In all, 23 different pools delivered 330 fish, Finlough produced 378, Doolough 40 and Glencullin Lough just one.
• The top flies in 2001 were the dreaded Collie Dog (168 salmon), the Ally Shrimp (131) and the Willie Gunn (54).
• The best solo bag on fly fell to Laurence Lock from London who took seven fish in a day in June. But Jonathan Durkan (aged xx) bagged nine fish on spinners during the end of season fishing party for staff and local people.
• Fishing effort for the season totalled 1760 rod days, meaning that, on average, an angler could expect a salmon every 2.3 days.

Rainfall and Avg weights

Best Delphi Salmon of 2001

W = Wild T = Tagged E = Estimated * = Released

New salmon laws to affect anglers

It is now illegal for anglers to sell rod-caught salmon in Ireland. This new law, introduced on the advice of the new National Salmon Commission, is intended to eliminate “commercial” angling and to block a possible outlet for illegally netted salmon.

The Commission has also recommended a bag limit of one salmon per angler per day up to June 1st and it is possible that this rule may be in place for 2002. Delphi is working to ensure that any new legal bag limit will allow an exemption for tagged ranched fish, since these have to be taken out anyway to preserve the genetic integrity of the wild stock.

Hatchery fish also have to be killed to enable tags to be recovered and research to be refined. And it is only by allowing tagged fish to be killed that Delphi can secure anglers’compliance with the requirement to release wild fish. In 2001, xx% of all wild fish were released at Delphi, the exceptions being fish that could not be revived or, more often, fish that were the very first (and sometimes the only one) of the season for particular anglers.

Nose tag recoveries reveal the drift netting hot spots

Delphi’s returning salmon are primarily being hammered by drift nets off the coast of North Mayo and Donegal, much more so than in local waters. Confirmation that drift net exploitation is largely non-local is revealed in an analysis of Delphi tag recoveries and could have major implications for salmon management policy. The discovery would appear to seriously undermine calls for a catchment-based approach to net management and for local net set-aside deals.

The analysis encompassed all tags recovered from Delphi’s ranched grilse between 1992 and 2000. Each smolt released from Delphi and from other Irish fisheries carries a coded wire tag implanted in its nose and these are collected by government inspectors from salmon dealers and other sources.

Over the nine year period, 5,438 grilse tags were recovered from the north and north west, with Achill, Belmullet, Porturlin, Killala, Ballina, Malin, Greencastle and Tory Island each producing hundreds of Delphi tags. In the same period only 2,996 tags were recovered from local drift nets in south Mayo and north Galway (and these are likely to include some fish that were draft netted in Killary rather than drift netted). The local area stretches from Ballyconneeely in the south to Clew Bay in the north. A further 1,482 tags were recovered from the Killary draft net fishery.

The State Marine Institute repeatedly inspects most salmon dealers each year to recover nose tags from hatchery-origin fish. The inspectors believe they get to see about 50% of the total dealer-registered catch (though the total Irish commercial salmon catch is thought to be appreciably more – perhaps a further 30% to 50%). From the tag recoveries it is possible to compile a fascinating picture of exploitation patterns, albeit one that may be distorted by any inconsistencies or bias in inspection effort.

Tag recoveries from south of the local area were few and far between, with just 299 from south Galway, Clare & Limerick and only 84 from Cork & Kerry. This would appear to belie the conventional belief that salmon often approach the mid-West from a southerly direction.

Bizarrely, three Delphi tags were recovered from County Waterford (Youghal & Helvick), and three were located in Scotland. Five tags were recovered from the Faroe Islands and 3 from West Greenland in the period.

The analysis also shows that at least 10,452 fish were taken by nets over the nine year period. If only half or a third of the fish landed are inspected, this could mean that Delphi has actually contributed well at least 20,000 to 30,000 extra salmon into Irish nets, with a commercial value of around £200,000 to £300,000. This compares with just 2,611 ranched grilse caught by rod at Delphi in that period, contributing some £2 million to the local economy.

Over the nine year period, 451,206 smolts were released from Delphi to produce these grilse – at a cost of somewhere around £1 each.

With four tag recoveries from nets for every one taken by rod (where 100% of fish are inspected), and with the figure for nets likely to be seriously understated, there cannot really be any argument that nets take 8 to 12 times more Delphi fish than the rods do. That is neither equitable nor sensible.

Salmon gill tagging a qualified success

The new national salmon gill tagging programme, though hideous in its paperwork requirements, looks to have worked fairly well in its first trial year. Compliance is said to have been high and details of rod and net catches for 2001 are expected to be published shortly. It is also expected that the bureaucractic demands will be reduced or simplified for 2002.

All anglers and netsmen in Ireland are required to tag all salmon (and big sea trout) that they kill and to keep a log of all fish caught, whether killed or not. There are stiff penalties for non-compliance. The system is expected to confirm just what a huge proportion of Ireland’s salmon are taken by nets. Tagging may lead in due course to the imposition of catch quotas, though progress towards this goal, clearly envisaged in the Fisheries Act of 19xx, has been very limited.

The Minister for Marine, Frank Fahy, has said he wants to see a “real reduction” in the commercial catch of salmon in 2002. But how this is to be achieved is not yet clear.

Netting buyouts not in prospect

Despite rumours to the contrary, there is no immediate prospect of a buyout of Irish salmon nets. The Minister for Marine has said he has yet to be persuaded that significant public money should be devoted to such a cause.

Nonetheless, the demand from netsmen for a voluntary buyout or setaside programme appears to be gathering ground, as many of them begin to realise that current practices are not compatible with salmon conservation or with maximization of the economic benefits to be derived from the resource. With catches having fallen by nearly 70% since the 1970s, and with the price of salmon also having collapsed in real terms due to salmon farming, it cannot be long before netting becomes hopelessly uneconomic.

Funding sought for Glenummera project

Delphi is currently seeking grant aid for a major programme to stabilise and revegetate the banks of the Glenummera River. The Glenummera, which flows into the south east corner of Doolough, is the main spawning and nursery artery of Delphi. In recent years it has suffered severely from overgrazing and forestry-related flash floods, resulting in widespread bank collapses with consequent siltation, instability and loss of nursery habitat.

A programme for mitigating the problems has been devised by Martin O’Grady and Paddy Gargan of the Central Fisheries Board. Martin is confident that the output of wild salmon smolts could be doubled over five years if the programme is implemented.

Sea trout improve but fail to dazzle

A significant increase in the number and quality of sea trout caught at Delphi in 2001 clearly mirrors the improvement in lice control on the Killary salmon farm. The catch total jumped from a lowly 345 in 2000 to 546 in 2001. And this season the fish were in very good condition, with a significantly higher average weight than in the previous year.

Most important of all, no shoals of lice-infested fish were reported in the lower reaches of the river at any point in May or June – the first time we have been able to say this for 13 years.

Despite the numerical improvement, the sea trout fishing was less than dazzling, with many regular trout anglers failing to encounter much activity. July was particularly poor in this regard, with experts such as the Westropps reporting unusually poor bags. Only 38 of the trout weighed over two pounds, with just 13 over three pounds. The average size was just over one pound and only fish of half a pound or more are recorded.

Nonetheless, there were many good moments. Peter Mantle and two friends had a magical after-dinner session on Finlough in July, with several good fish taken and more lost in the gloaming. Some nice trout were taken off Glencullin Lough, too, including…..

Sea trout lawsuit pressing forward

The major lawsuit being brought by several west coast sea trout fisheries against the Irish Government and various fish farming companies continues to make progress, albeit at a painfully slow pace. Under an out-of-court settlement, all salmon farming defendants, except one, have now agreed to abide by prescribed maximum lice levels for three years, but the State has yet to agree to rigorously police the arrangements. Thus far, compliance with the settlement has been good, but the case against the State and the non-compliant farm continues to be prosecuted.

Killary salmon farm gets huge new grant

Delphi’s bete noir, the salmon farm in Killary Harbour, has, incredibly, been awarded a massive new grant of £750,000. This money, part of a £6 million grant to the Irish industry, partly comes from the EU and partly from the Irish Government – in other words, it is all taxpayers’ money.

Neither the Irish nor European authorities have yet twigged that salmon farming is a lousy industry, with an appalling history of disease and environmental damage, and with limited long-term prospects, low (and low quality) employment and a highly dodgy product.

“The Price of Salmon”

The brilliant but shocking BBC documentary “Warnings from the Wild: The Price of Salmon”, aired last spring, has deservedly won a top media award. This comprehensive expose of the salmon farming industry, researched over three years by the eminent BBC Natural History Film Unit, is on more or less permanent show at Delphi and has confirmed all our worst fears.

It would sway any doubters as to the appalling impacts of the industry – and will deter many consumers from ever eating farmed salmon again.

The film, presented by Julian Pettifer, was voted Best TV Documentary at the British Environmental & Media Awards ceremony in Westminster last month. Considering the fact that it was up against David Attenborough’s series “The State of the Planet”, this was no mean achievement.

In accepting the award, producer Jeremy Bristow said that he was particularly delighted to have won since he and his colleagues had been subject to a vicious campaign of vilification by the salmon farming industry. The industry had sought to rubbish the rigorously-researched BBC investigation, but their counterclaims were laughably dishonest.

The powerful, independent documentary has also been aired overseas and has helped to fuel major campaigns of protest against salmon farming in Norway, Scotland, the USA and Canada. It was followed by further damning indictments of salmon farming on BBC’s Watchdog programme and in the Sunday Times in October.

SOS

In Ireland, the campaign against salmon farming continues to be led by the Save Our Sea Trout group, headed by Professor Graham Shaw. Graham has been both dogged and brilliant in tracking the horrors of the Irish industry, which are reported in SOS’s regular newsletters. To subscribe to these bulletins, send £20 (or more) to SOS, PO Box 69, Galway, Ireland. Check out, too, the SOS website at…………….

Anti-lice research programme abandoned

A programme of treating some of Delphi’s outgoing salmon smolts with an anti-lice medication has been abandoned. The programme was originally to have been a joint venture between Delphi, the State’s Marine Institute and the Burrishoole Fishery. It was intended to measure the impact of sea lice on salmon (as opposed to sea trout) over a number of years and during different migration conditions.

Differences of opinion emerged, however, over the structure and control of the programme and Delphi pulled out. We are now planning to restart the process with a new University partner.

Euro pricing

Please note that Ireland is switching over to the Euro currency with effect from January 2002. All Delphi prices are henceforth quoted in Euros. For guidance, the Euro symbol is € (horribly similar to the pound sign) and €1 = IR£0.787564. In relation to US dollars, the exchange rate will fluctuate, but currently €1 = $0.92.

Peter O’Reilly Courses

Peter O’Reilly will again be hosting a number of fly-fishing courses at Delphi in 2002. Peter is Ireland’s top fly-fishing instructor and foremost angling writer, as well as being a delightful man with the patience of Job and the gentlest manner.

His courses, which are suitable both for absolute beginners and for those in need of additional wisdom, are strictly limited to 6 or 8 people. The dates for 2002 are:

WEEKENDS (Casting & All Basics)
Thursday 7th March to Sunday 10th March
Thursday 9th May to Sunday 12th May
Friday 20th September to Monday 23rd September
Price €595 (Single supplement: €90)

FULL WEEKS (Guided Fishing)
Saturday 6th April to Saturday 13th April
Friday 13th September to Friday 20th September
Price €1495 (Single supplement: €210)

The weekend courses start with dinner on the Thursday/Friday of arrival and end after lunch on the Sunday/Monday. The prices include full-board accommodation and all personal tuition. A 50% deposit is required at the time of booking. Reservations may be made with Tracy at Delphi Lodge.

News [2008] [2007] [2006] [2005] [2004] [2003] [2002] [2001] [2000] [1999] [1998] [1997]