Opening Remarks AGM – Salmon Watch Ireland

Welcome to Salmon Watch Ireland’s AGM for 2023 being conducted by Zoom. This meeting is primarily held to conform with our obligations under the Companies Act. 2023 was again a year primarily dominated by our Judicial Review on the decision to award an aquaculture licence to MOWI in Bantry Bay. Having taken the decision to enter into this legal process it was necessary to devote a considerable amount of time to research our main avenues of approach to the legal process. The Judicial review took place in April/May and was a very complex case involving three separate parties taking the review namely IFI, SWIRL and Sweetman and others including FISSTA. The judgement is still outstanding, and we are certainly concerned at the time period this judgement is taking to finalise. We certainly agree that the hearing of the case was exceedingly fair and indeed comprehensive with all parties given a fair hearing. The judgement is listed for mention again in October, but we may see a judgement at a date earlier. I would like to thank all our directors and indeed our members and supporters who helped to prepare and support us both financially and with advice which enabled us to pursue this case. The 2023 salmon run in Ireland was extremely poor with regard to both grilse, and spring salmon. Certainly, it is probable that it was the lowest return in the time series. It will be interesting to see how this will be reflected in catch statistics and indeed how the fish counter report might illuminate and reinforce our view of stocks. It is also interesting that spring stocks in 2024 suggest extremely poor returns which feeds into the narrative that linkage exists between grilse and MSW stocks in regard to survival at sea in first year. The return of salmon to Ireland is in a very precarious position with stocks now at 10% of historic highs. This is also reflected in most countries supporting Atlantic salmon stocks with UK and Norway showing a similar decline. There is also evidence that the decline in perceived strongholds like Iceland and the Russian Federation is now accelerating and showing a similar worrying trend. The scale and basin wide declines are consistent with oceanic influences which may be related to warming SST which can and does have cascading influence on currents and productivity at sea. It is also worth noting that Baltic salmon saw a dramatic decline in 2023 which would certainly be remote from Atlantic influence, so a climate explanation is suggested. There is also a suggestion that unregulated high seas fisheries directed at Atlantic salmon may be occurring but evidence of this is currently not reliable, but areas of concern are North of Faroes and South of Greenland. These areas are consistent with fisheries for salmon which were carried out by the Faroes and Greenland during 1970s and 1980s. However, the evidence of these fish coming to market is not available. We do know that there are complex reasons which dictate strength of salmon populations but with a background of practical elimination of legal harvest it is not beyond the possibility that other illegal directed fisheries have grown in international waters. This must be investigated by NASCO and must include a directed and well-resourced program going forward. The newest threat to Atlantic salmon is certainly the vast and continuing expansion and strengthening of the pink pacific salmon presence in the North Atlantic. While these fish would appear to present difficulties in freshwater, we would suggest that vast populations of these fish are now at sea in Northeast Atlantic and certainly will further compete with all species in traditional feeding areas for Atlantic salmon. There is anecdotal evidence that pink salmon have reduced other pacific salmon populations through competition in North Pacific. Coming closer to Ireland it is quite evident that we have enormous problems in regard to water quality and other issues related to loss of biodiversity. It is alarming that the regular updates on water quality by the EPA usher in a consistent and robust denial of the role that agriculture plays. The agriculture lobby is strong politically but the derogation situation in regard to organic nitrogen limits will have to be discontinued and SWIRL will be actively promoting its removal. The spectre of lack of investment by the state in wastewater infrastructure is now coming to a head with a renewed investment in housing with consequent overload of already inadequate treatment plants.Again, SWIRL will be seeking to empower local communities to make observations on planning to seek proper and reliable infrastructure. We have also continued to engage in regard to open cage salmon aquaculture with a large number of submissions in regard to renewals of expired licences. We also are still awaiting a determination of our EU complaint against Ireland in relation to legislation surrounding salmon aquaculture. The issue of mortalities on Irish salmon farms has been consistently mentioned and is outside international norms which is certainly reflective of an industry which should never be operating in Irish waters. Mortalities and disease are certainly indicative of a dangerous near coastal environment which has the probable outcome of many negative outcomes for wild salmonids. SWIRL again has been at the forefront in calling for exploitation being reduced substantially. The commercial harvest of salmon is certainly not consistent with low stock levels and needs to be dis-continued while more protection of salmon from over harvest by other stakeholders is a necessity. Directed conservation is required with larger fish requiring more protection. We still view the allocation of ten tags as being over generous in times where salmon stocks are at such low levels. We have consistently not called for mandatory catch and release in rivers with a surplus, but we certainly cannot be happy in a situation whereby certain stakeholders may be compromising the calculations through inaccurate returns. Accordingly, we have made suggestions on how the process can be improved to increase accuracy. It would not be incorrect to suggest that very few salmon catchments are managed in an effective way. We need a situation where properly resourced management structures on rivers lead to a better outcome for the resource.To this end SWIRL has taken a strategic evaluation of our focus going forward and have decided to endeavour to empower local communities to act in the interests of salmon conservation through practical actions facilitated by resources provided by us. We again facilitated an annual conference and awarded the Salmon Hero Award for the excellent and ongoing work on the Suir Tributaries. The award is in recognition of local community involvement in preserving local salmonid populations through practical actions. These annual conferences serve as a very important information resource to which all stakeholders can engage in and will certainly be continued and expanded. ENDS.