Fish stocks are fine in royal canal says ifi

 Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) has disputed claims made by local anglers that fish stocks have plummeted in the Royal Canal due to poaching.

 In recent weeks concerned local anglers have told the Westmeath Examiner that the coarse fish populations in the stretch of canal in the Mullingar area has been “poached out” over the last decade and that subsequently the area’s reputation as an angling destination has been affected.

However in a statement to the Westmeath Examiner, IFI’s Research and Development Division have disputed the anglers’ claims saying that “there is no data to indicate that any coarse fish species is endangered in Ireland” and that the Royal Canal near Mullingar is still “highly regarded as a coarse fishery”.

 On the topic of poaching, IFI said that while “staff in the Mullingar area routinely patrol the areas in question and take appropriate action as required,...the contribution of anglers in regard to illegal fishing reports is very valuable as our staff levels (current and previous) allow us to cover only so much ground”.

 “To this end IFI has a 24 hour confidential hotline number to which anglers and the general public can report instances of suspected illegal activity. Reports can also be made to our offices or via our websites and email . In addition many club officials have direct access to Fisheries Officers’ contact details. There are over 1300 anglers for every member of staff at Inland Fisheries Ireland and we would hope that when they witness illegal fishing they would report it to us immediately to maximise our chances of a successful prosecution. Unfortunately there is still a very low level of realtime reporting.

 “IFI has a number of staff based around the Mullingar area who have been at the canal within 10 minutes of a report in recent times. Good, timely information is critical to IFI and it allows us to deploy our resources to the areas most in need. We would recommend that anglers or the general public who suspect that there may be illegal activity taking place, withdraw a safe distance and call the Hotline and if possible take a photograph which can be sent on to us.”

 The IFI’s 24 confidential hotline is 1890 34 74 24.