Loughs Corrib, Mask, Carra, Conn, Cullin, Arrow and Sheelin are some of the best wild brown trout fisheries in Europe and are collectively known as the Great Western Lakes.
Inland Fisheries Ireland wishes to develop a long term management plan for these lakes to address many of the factors currently impacting on the ecological wellbeing of native fish stocks in their catchments.
The scope of this tender includes the provision of expert advice on interactions between wild fish and aquaculture facilities and the species they farm. The advice provided will support IFI in its role in the conservation and protection of species under its legislative remit.
Scientific studies have demonstrated that sea lice from marine salmon farms, when not adequately controlled, can have a serious impact on local sea trout stocks and migrating salmon smolts. Sea trout are especially vulnerable to salmon lice infestation because, in the sea, they remain feeding and growing in coastal waters where salmon farms are situated.
There is a large body of published literature on the negative interactions of farmed salmon and wild salmonid stocks. Apart from the well documented sea lice-mediated impacts on wild salmonids associated with salmon farming, the interbreeding of salmon farm escapees with wild fish have also been shown to significantly negatively affect the sustainability of wild stocks.
It is anticipated that the contract will be awarded in early September 2022 work commencing immediately.
These are fish kills (2019-2020) that IFI are aware of. IFI research department is compiling GIS data on all fish kills, and will forward when complete.
Take a photo, measure the fish, weigh or estimate its weight, record the tag number and then let the fish go.
Tell IFI in as much detail as possible where you caught it, including the time and date and fishing method used to catch it.
Send an email with the information to the relevant email below.
Tagging
Join our tagging team to tag elasmobranchs (sharks, skates and rays) and bass. Anglers who regularly catch these species can be trained and equipped for tagging by staff at Inland Fisheries Ireland. Our Marine Sportfish Tagging Programme has been running for 50 years and has tagged over 40,000 fish, providing fantastic information on the distribution and movement patterns of 15 different species.
Please look out for tagged bass and report any you find. Take a photo, measure the fish, weigh or estimate its weight, record the tag number and let it go. Tell us in as much detail as possible where you caught it, including the time and date and fishing method used to catch it. Send an email with the information to the relevant email below.
If you are lucky enough to catch an adult Atlantic salmon, sea trout, brown trout or ferox trout, IFI would love to hear from you
You can help IFI learn a little bit about the fish, its growth rate and its age by taking scale samples from the area shown below in the diagram.
Using a sharp knife, gently but firmly scrape about 5 to 10 scales in a head-to-tail direction. This may be done two or three times in rapid succession on the left side of the fish. Scales can be rubbed off the knife on the inside of a small envelope and sent in to us.
Who do I contact?
Research Division, Inland Fisheries Ireland, 3044 Lake Drive, Citywest Business Campus, Dublin, D24 Y265.
River and brook lampreys spawn in March–April in shallow, moderately-flowing gravelled areas of rivers and streams. If spawning is occurring, you are most likely to see a ‘freshening’ of areas in the gravels, with loosened gravels of a lighter colour than the surrounding river bed.
River lamprey nests, or redds, are identified by oval or circular scrapings in the gravels of up to 40cm in diameter. Brook lamprey nests are smaller, often only a few centimetres wide and long. Lampreys are often present in the nests, even during the day, with numbers varying anything between 2 and 20 individuals.
Brook lamprey and river lamprey are sometimes seen spawning in the same location, but they can be told apart by their size: brook lampreys are about 10–12cm in length, but river lampreys are bigger, measuring about 25–30cm in length.
Sea lampreys are easily distinguished from river and brook lampreys as they are much larger, around 60–90cm in length, and have a mottled brown and black colour. They spawn in May–July, which is later than brook and river lampreys, in the gravels and cobbles of shallow, fast-flowing sections of rivers. They often spawn in areas that are used by spawning salmon and trout.
Sea lamprey nests are large structures, over 1m wide and up to 50cm deep, often visible from the bank. Look for a mound of freshly turned gravels of a lighter colour than the surrounding river bed and a bowl-like depression immediately upstream of it. Nests are often found in clusters just downstream of weirs.