Protest outisde IFI in city west today.

twin_beacon

Fair play to everyone.
This seems to be the first spring that the gill netting has received international coverage in the angling media, will have an effect on angling tourism, and all the spinoff industries.

https://www.facebook.com/events/821967164596140/832784803514376/

BrownTrout

That's about the Pike netting is it?

twin_beacon

it is indeed.

kildare lad

I was there myself, easily 150 people there, there would have been 200 + there i reckon except it finished at half 12ish instead of 2 o clock, still a very good turnout all the same considering the it wasnt a weekend day!! 22,000 signature petition handed in also... roll on the next one!!

Bio Mech

kildare lad wrote: »

I was there myself, easily 150 people there, there would have been 200 + there i reckon except it finished at half 12ish instead of 2 o clock, still a very good turnout all the same considering the it wasnt a weekend day!! 22,000 signature petition handed in also... roll on the next one!!

I think it will need to accelerate significantly in the future. Its a good start though. Its also a bit of a tester case. IFI are incredibly intransigent and pigheaded and rarely listen to good science. Some public and political pressure is needed to make them transparent. The number of conflicts of interest within IFI are staggering really and vested interests dominate. Its really quite unbelievable.

Its a shame as some of the staff, like the officers, do great work and I used to have a lot of time for them but they have lost my respect with the gill netting and game fish bias which, as someone who fishes for all species, severly limits my enjoyment on several waters I fish.

jack01986

Is there an online petition to sign?

kildare lad

jack01986 wrote: »

Is there an online petition to sign?

its already sent in

jack01986

Ah right.

kildare lad

Heres the statistics of gillnetting on them lakes
https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfl1/v/t1.0-9/12814344_1194774700533972_5471438811080148693_n.png?oh=84bdacd4d1eacd5c8c3a8ef5b3c90a6c&oe=578FEE3C

Bogwoppit

I did a head count at 12 and counted 104 including the kids.

kildare lad

Bogwoppit wrote: »

I did a head count at 12 and counted 104 including the kids.

it seemed like more, anyway good crowd all the same, hopefully there'll be more at the next one!!

pheasant tail

Good to see, hardly get any press coverage outside the angling world will it? If there were some pictures released of all them dead fish stuck in the nets I'd like to think some people might stand up and listen

twin_beacon

There was somebody there from Radio 1, I don't know what show or time the interviews were broadcast on though.

NeverWaining

There was a piece on yesterday's Drivetime show on Radio 1.

kildare lad

https://www.facebook.com/damien.okelly.9/videos/1119504121413568/ theres the radio interview,

kildare lad

at the end of the interview the ifi said there staff are trained to a high standard in fish handling, well i can tell u after watchin the gillnetting video, they either dont care or havent a clue how to handle a fish

jkchambers

You need to watch the full video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEzcIXuUnAM&feature=youtu.be

pheasant tail

That's some advertisement for pike fishing and conservation in this country, yet IFI are questioning how they can increase revenue for pike angling and tourism..baffling! All this to keep our trout lads happy so they've more fish to hit on the head when their done a days fishing. I'd love to see just how many trout anglers we'd have going out fishing and paying licences if they had to oblige to catch and release such as happens with course fishing. And I'm as much a trout angler as I am pike

BrownTrout

pheasant tail wrote:

That's some advertisement for pike fishing and conservation in this country, yet IFI are questioning how they can increase revenue for pike angling and tourism..baffling! All this to keep our trout lads happy so they've more fish to hit on the head when their done a days fishing. I'd love to see just how many trout anglers we'd have going out fishing and paying licences if they had to oblige to catch and release such as happens with course fishing. And I'm as much a trout angler as I am pike

In Scotland many anglers have threatened to stop fishing altogether if compulsory catch and release on salmon is brought in.

Sure what else can the lawmakers do when there are no salmon in the rivers?

pheasant tail

BrownTrout wrote: »

In Scotland many anglers have threatened to stop fishing altogether if compulsory catch and release on salmon is brought in.

Sure what else can the lawmakers do when there are no salmon in the rivers?

But doesn't that say a lot about the type of angler they are? How do you put a price on an endangered species like..

kildare lad

there needs to be a serious shake up with the ifi...granted theres good individuals at grassroots level, but the people who are in charge are dinosaurs, they're the biggest waste of tax payers money. they dont have a clue or dont care how to protect fish stocks in this country. They're so removed from the average angler its not even funny. Theyll jus stick there head in the sand, like they did with the poaching campaign and hope it blows over which unfortunately it did. Well i dont think this campaign will blow over this time and i hope it doesnt. Coarse stocks have been decimated by poachers and the ifi have done nothing to stop it. And they seem to think its ok to net lakes which have the potential to be best fisheries in Europe. they couldnt be anymore backwards if they tried.

pheasant tail

kildare lad wrote: »

there needs to be a serious shake up with the ifi...granted theres good individuals at grassroots level, but the people who are in charge are dinosaurs, they're the biggest waste of tax payers money. they dont have a clue or dont care how to protect fish stocks in this country. They're so removed from the average angler its not even funny. Theyll jus stick there head in the sand, like they did with the poaching campaign and hope it blows over which unfortunately it did. Well i dont think this campaign will blow over this time and i hope it doesnt. Coarse stocks have been decimated by poachers and the ifi have done nothing to stop it. And they seem to think its ok to net lakes which have the potential to be best fisheries in Europe. they couldnt be anymore backwards if they tried.

That's the problem, it's the people at the top in Dublin making these calls, there's lots of the lads in the ground who disagree with what's happening as much as anyone. IFI's argument, on paper, is that Ireland has 7 of the last 9 remaining wild trout/salmon lakes in Europe and they must be protected. Yet how does that give them the justification to net Sheelin and close it for fishing outside trout season. Trout men first, money talks unfortunately

kildare lad

Its just good old fashioned cronyism, the old boys club and snobbery is the problem with the ifi, they look out for there mates in the trout clubs and turn there noses up at the likes of us coarse anglers. if they were so intent on protecting the wild brown trout they should stop eating them!! the amount of potential revenue they're losing out on is huge, which then could be re-invested to further protect our waters, I have yet to meet a coarse angler who has any respect for the ifi.

twin_beacon

kildare lad wrote: »

Well i dont think this campaign will blow over this time and i hope it doesnt.

This campaign is not going to blow over any time soon, its the first year I have seen the international angling media get involved. There there will be a backlash in for form of a reduced number of coarse/pike angling tourists. Just have a look at the feedback section on the IFI's facebook page. Anglers atre going to Holland and Scandinavia for a pike fishing holiday. Can't say I can blame them. This will need to get national mainstream media coverage for anything to actually happen though. As the average Joe Soap doesn't know what IFI or a Gill Net are, and how much tax payers' money is being spent in an operation that effectively shoots itself in the foot.

IFI know they are wrong, they know that culling pike/coarse fish has no benefit to trout. Its just a "job for the boys" setting the gill nets every year. If they really cared about trout stocks, have a look at water quality and invasive species.

jkchambers

Anglers Mail report
http://www.anglersmail.co.uk/news/stop-slaughter-pike-61637#LMI6EKHyprgFCypx.01

viper123

Have the IFI commented at all on any of the protests going on?

jkchambers

viper123 wrote: »

Have the IFI commented at all on any of the protests going on?

I havent seen anything since the protest. They have some stuff up on the link below of which nearly all was prepared before the Pedreschi/IFI report that pike were native etc. With regard to the pike and trout policy reviews which were published in August 2014, I was a member of both these review groups representing pike anglers. The groups were establised in November 2011 and were stood down in January 2012 before we had fully finished. IFI told us that our work was done and that they would complete it. Then Debbie Pedreschi`s/IFI report came out that proved pike were native. I asked IFI that the review group be re-established to review the review. I was told that that wasnt going to happen. I am listed as a member on each report. I never signed either off and would not if I was ever asked to (I was never asked to)
http://www.fisheriesireland.ie/Fisheries-Management/stock-management.html

twin_beacon

John, are IFI in breach of any European regulation, for culling a native species? (if it has been proven that pike are native to all the lakes the nets are being set)

jkchambers

twin_beacon wrote: »

John, are IFI in breach of any European regulation, for culling a native species? (if it has been proven that pike are native to all the lakes the nets are being set)

We are looking at all the legal aspects at the moment. I dont want to give out too much info on this on a public forum

a148pro

Can I ask what are the arguments here as its not entirely clear from the above? Are the IFI saying they need to cull pike to protect trout and salmon stocks? Or is it that they are putting the nets down to ascertain what is in the water and some pike are being killed as a result? Is there evidence that pike are damaging salmon / trout stocks? Is there science to show that you should cull them? I see a lot of cynicism here but I'd be surprised if the IFI are doing it without a scientific basis or because they themselves prefer trout fishing.

If pike have been here all along then obviously the argument for culling them is weaker, unless they've invaded certain water where they weren't previously or unless there's been some other change in the ecosystem that warrants killing them

jkchambers

a148pro wrote: »

Can I ask what are the arguments here as its not entirely clear from the above? Are the IFI saying they need to cull pike to protect trout and salmon stocks? Or is it that they are putting the nets down to ascertain what is in the water and some pike are being killed as a result? Is there evidence that pike are damaging salmon / trout stocks? Is there science to show that you should cull them? I see a lot of cynicism here but I'd be surprised if the IFI are doing it without a scientific basis or because they themselves prefer trout fishing.

If pike have been here all along then obviously the argument for culling them is weaker, unless they've invaded certain water where they weren't previously or unless there's been some other change in the ecosystem that warrants killing them

They are saying that they want to develop certain lakes as "managed wild brown trout" fisheries and want to remove those nasty native pike who have been gobbling up trout since the end of the ice age