Save our Western
Lakes
By Michael
Canney
My name is Michael Canney and together with
my wife Maire (Moya) we own and run the Portarra Lodge Angling Centre, Tullykyrie,
Moycullen, Co. Galway. Both my wife and I are very keen trout anglers and fish for pike
occasionally. Our concern about the removal of large pike from the Corrib is three-fold.
The ill-effect such removal will have on our wild trout stocks.
- The drop in off-peak tourism of overseas anglers who want to
catch Trophy/Specimen pike and who are presently boycotting Ireland as a pike angling
destination.
- The damage caused to the fish, including trout which manage
to squeeze through the mesh of the gill nets, thereby removing their protective coating
and leaving the fish prone to viral infection and death.
I will try and deal with those concerns separately.
The ill effect on wild brown trout
stocks
It is a well known and accepted fact that. in a
large water mass like Lough Corrib (44,000 acres) it is IMPOSSIBLE to remove all pike.
However, the removal of large pike results in the increase in numbers of smaller pike
which are the problematic ones as regards predation on trout stocks. Appendix 1 & 2 of
the Inland Fisheries Trust clearly shows that in 1961 over 5000 pike weighed 6 tonnes
while in 1979 it took almost 13000 pike to make 6.3 tonnes. Trout figures from the same
Trust show that in 1968 dead and released trout numbered 3035 and in 1979 the number was
543. This chart clearly shows a drop in trout numbers by a factor of almost six. As
records of trout were not kept prior to 1968 (why, I cannot understand, as the same people
were able to chart the exact number of pike captured) and the gill netting started 10
years previous, one could argue that the number of trout taken in the net in 1958 could
well be over 17,000.
To summarise, the gill netting from 1958 to
1979 more than doubled the pike numbers and greatly reduced the trout stocks.
Drop in off-peak tourism
The off-peak tourism potential for pike
angling on the Western lakes is huge. Here in the West we have the best large
Trophy/Specimen pike fishing in Europe. Are we taking advantage of it'? Sadly we are
trying to kill it off at great expense. I believe that the local Fishery Board have
estimated the cost of gill netting at somewhere in the region of £600,000. I have it from
very good authority that should the gill netting be stopped here in the West that pike
anglers from Great Britain and Europe would come in their thousands - AND at a time when
the accommodation providers around Corrib and Mask are all but empty.
| Yes indeed, why would British or
European pikers still visit the Western Lakes ... ? |
I have been opened for just over 2 years and cancellations
received by me from pike anglers who refuse to come here fishing on account of the gill
netting has numbered 28. 14 From Holland. 8 from Germany and 6 from Switzerland. Twenty
eight anglers staying for one week with an average spend of £500 adds up to a gross loss
of £ 14,000. It also means that i was not employing anybody for the periods in question.
I know of other cancellations in this area also.
Damage caused to Fish: Where fish escape
from the nets a great portion of their protective coating is removed, leaving these poor
unfortunate fish open to disease and death. This scenario could also start the spread of
disease -we don't know. Of 87 pike, both large and small, examined by me, the breakdown of
stomach contents is as follows: 16 had pike in the stomach, 10 had roach, 2 had eel, 1 had
perch and 1 had trout. The pike with the trout weighed 5.5lb and the trout was 12 inches
long. This data would, according to some former employees of the Inland Fisheries Trust,
tally with their finding that between 1 % and 2% of pike taken in gill nets had trout in
their stomachs.
The Alternative: Firstly the question has to
be asked - should there be necessity for an alternative? Large specimen pike (301b and
over) are a sign that the food chain in a system is in a very healthy condition. Meaning
that the natural balance of predator/ prey is being maintained. In systems where large
pike were removed an imbalance was created, resulting in a serious drop off in trout
numbers and in some cases many trout were caught in poor condition.
However, should the Western Regional Board
insist on making the pike a scapegoat instead of tackling the real problem, which is
pollution, I would suggest two alternatives.
- The use of Drum Traps at the mouths of feeder/nursery rivers
and streams: This practice was carried out many years ago and proved very successful
indeed in the capture of small pike, thus giving the small trout a safe passage into the
lake. Actually Dr. Martin O'Grady, using a graph, showed how successful the method was in
reducing pike numbers from 1 000's down to 1 00's in a matter of a few years.
- Rod and Line: Promote the Western lakes for pike angling from
September onwards and let visiting and local pike anglers take the pike on rod and line.
in this way the pike would be removed, without causing any damage to trout and jobs in the
tourist industry would be created. This system was proven in 1992 when the angling clubs
in Galway City caught and weighed in over 5.5 tonne of pike as a result of fishing
competitions. This was around the same tonnage that the Inland Fisheries was capturing in
the gill nets. I can recall in September '92 where a pike competition was held for charity
and almost 1 tonne of pike was caught and sold for £ 1 per lb for export to Germany.
Pike or Pollution
As already stated it is the opinion of tile vast
majority of anglers that the Western Regiolial Fishery Board is taking the easy option
that is, putting the blame on pike for the reduction in trout numbers instead of the real
culprit.
Pollution
The Corrib Anghing Federations pollution report
proves that the water quality in Lough Corrib is far from what we are led to believe by
those in authority. The disappearance of the Arctic Char from Corrib as far back as 1985
was natures way of sounding the alarm bells. The reason for the disappearance of this
species of fish is not pike but pollution.
I have it on record that in some fisheries
in England where the stock of Arctic Char was in decline that once the source of pollution
was ascertained and then eradicated, the number of Char was on the increase.
I hope that this short report will assist in
understanding the issue and bring to the attention of those in authority the importance of
pike to both trout stocks and the tourist trade.
Finally, I think that the funds being spent
on gill netting pike. Something in the region of £600,000, would be better spent on a
proper water quality management plan whereby the polluters would be traced and heavy fine
systems put in place to make the culprit pay and deter he/she from repeating their
actions.
ANGLING IRELAND, January 1999
SOWL
Last update on : 06/06/99
