Inland Fisheries
Seanad Éireann — 2026-03-19
============================================================

Kieran O'Donnell (FG), Limerick City

I note Senator Duffy's point. I will make a couple of points. While the NPWS of the Department has a role in the protection and conservation of bird species, including the cormorant, policy related to the management of inland fisheries is the responsibility of Inland Fisheries Ireland. I have a note from the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment which reads:
While salmon stocks have been in long decline both in Ireland and internationally, the technical expect group on salmon reports that the number of wild salmon returning to Ireland has progressively declined from well over one million for much of the 1970s to less than 200,000 in recent years. In light of declining numbers the Minister of State for the Marine, Deputy Timmy Dooley, has written to IFI asking it to review the existing approach to salmon management to consider what options are available for protecting and recovering stock. This work, backed by scientific advice, will inform future policies in this area.
Cormorants can impact salmon, particularly during the salmon smolt migration period in spring. This can have an impact on some rivers. Cormorants are not considered the primary driver of the overall decline in salmon stocks. IFI undertook a national stressor analysis in 2025 of key pressures affecting wild Atlantic salmon stocks. The analysis was published on the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization, NASCO, website and includes a range of factors including predators. Poor water quality, habitat degradation and salmon aquaculture were identified as three priority stressors that should be mitigated to improve conservation of the Irish Atlantic salmon.
I will bring the points made by the Senator back to the Minister, Deputy Browne. I suggest that he could follow up with the Minister of State, Deputy Dooley, on the specific aspect he raised on the work of Inland Fisheries Ireland and whether that can feed into that review.

---

Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-03-19/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:45+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-03-19