All salmon and sea trout anglers who have not returned last season’s angling logbook and unused gill tags are being urged to do so immediately.
Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) says the logbooks and unused tags are necessary to provide vital data for managing Ireland’s wild Atlantic salmon and sea trout stocks into the future.
In accordance with the Wild Salmon and Sea Trout Tagging Scheme, an angler must attach a valid gill tag to a salmon (any size) or sea trout (over 40cm) immediately on landing, followed by an entry to their logbook of their catch and gill-tag used.
If the fish is to be released, anglers must also make a catch record in their logbook.
Anglers are required by law to return their completed logbook (setting out their fishing and catch record) and all unused tags to the issuing office with seven days of licence expiry and no later than 19 October annually.
Suzanne Campion, head of business development at IFI, says: “Salmon stocks are at a critical point and their survival is dependent on efforts made to manage and conserve this precious species.
“IFI is appealing to those anglers that have yet to return their logbooks to do so now. Anglers’ logbooks are a key part of the management process and we need your logbook information to inform the protection and conservation of this resource for future generations of anglers and salmon.”
Returns can be done via the prepaid postage return envelope which was supplied with the 2020 angling licence. In the absence of this, anglers can return their completed logbook and unused tags to the IFI office addressed on their licence/logbook.
Alternatively, scanned logbooks and licences may be emailed to [email protected] — anglers who choose this option are reminded that both sides and any continuation pages should be included in the scan to ensure the licence names and number can be linked to the correct logbook.
