20/01/2005 - Environment
Agency Wales is pleased to announce that
the Welsh Assembly Government has confirmed
new byelaws that effectively close the remaining
significant mixed-stock salmon net fisheries
in Wales.
Mixed-stock salmon net fisheries exploiting
salmon from a number of different river
stocks have been operating along coastal
areas and in some estuaries in Wales for
many years. They present significant management
problems because it is very difficult to
determine the level of exploitation of each
of the individual river stocks involved.
Even if the overall level of exploitation
in the fishery appears to be satisfactory,
the exploitation of one particular river
stock could be too high.
For these reasons, it is widely accepted
that mixed-stock fisheries are undesirable,
and in Wales and England it is Government
policy to phase them out. This approach
was endorsed by the Salmon and Freshwater
Fisheries Review (published in 2000), a
recommendation that was supported in principle
by the National Assembly for Wales.
Mixed-stock net fisheries that have been
closed through the new byelaws include:
Drift nets at the mouth of the River Usk
Coastal wade nets in parts of St Brides
Bay and Carmarthen Bay
Sling nets off the mouth of the River Clwyd
Seine or draft nets: around the north coast
of Anglesey; through the Menai Straits (off
the mouths of the Rivers Ogwen and Seiont);
around the coast of the Lleyn Peninsula;
and off the mouth of the River Dwyfawr.
One mixed-stock salmon net fishery remains
in Wales - the Black Rock lave net fishery
in the Severn Estuary, near Caldicot. Although
operating on a mixed-stock basis it is likely
that the Black Rock lave net fishery has
only a minimal impact on salmon stocks and
its impact is not considered to be significant
in conservation terms.
A further 11 rivers will continue to support
net fisheries, each exploiting stock from
single river systems. These are the Mawddach,
Conwy, Dyfi, Dysynni, Glaslyn, Dee, Nevern,
Tywi, Taf, Teifi and Cleddau.
In contrast to mixed-stock salmon fisheries,
these single-stock fisheries can be managed
to limit the exploitation of salmon in each
river to a sustainable level.
In Wales the significant mixed-stock fisheries
have been gradually phased out over recent
years through the use of Net Limitation
Orders (NLOs) that have reduced netting
activity to the point where no licences
are currently taken out for these fisheries.
To ensure that there is no risk of future
exploitation in these fisheries, they have
now been closed permanently through the
new Environment Agency Wales byelaws.
The changes will not, therefore, affect
livelihoods or the heritage values associated
with remaining net fisheries, and no individual
netsmen have been disadvantaged.
Dr Helen Phillips, Director Environment
Agency Wales said: "I am delighted
with this initiative, which will be so helpful
to the management of fisheries in Wales.
This is an excellent example of Wales making
sustainability a central principle of its
policies and actions."
"The phase-out and closure of mixed-stock
salmon net fisheries was a key recommendation
of the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Legislative
Review, which was published in 2000. We
are proud of the fact that, with the support
of the Welsh Assembly Government, we in
Wales are at the forefront of salmon stock
conservation in Europe."
Pat O'Reilly, chairman of Fisheries Ecology
and Recreation Advisory Committee (FERAC)
Wales, added: "By far the biggest threat
to sustainability of the salmon fisheries
of Welsh rivers remains. Despite international
concern over declining salmon stocks, the
annual catches in the interceptory drift-net
fishery off Ireland's west coast have increased
by 30 per cent over the past decade.
"Dialogue with the new Irish Minister
of the Marine, Mr Pat Gallagher, on the
impact of the Irish mixed-stock fisheries
must continue, working towards restricting
Ireland's net fishing effort to its own
estuaries, for the benefit of Irish migratory
stocks as well as those bound for other
European rivers."
