Scale of crisis in Mayo's angling waters is revealed

The chief executive officer of Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) has revealed that Arctic charr, one of Ireland's oldest cold water species, is now extinct at Mayo's popular angling lake, Lough Conn.

Francis O'Donnell stated a similar fate is facing other lake systems across the country.

He outlined: "Climate change, the pollution of our water bodies, the destruction of freshwater and terrestrial habitats, the proliferation of non-native invasive species and the impacts of aquaculture on migrating salmonids is making our role extremely challenging as an environmental organisation.

"I was born in 1971. Wild salmon numbers returning to Ireland in that year were 1.2 million.

"In 2022 that number was reduced to 171,000, which represents a reduction of 86%.

"Arctic charr, a species that was encountered by the first inhabitants of this island, is now extinct from Lough Conn and faces a similar fate in other lake systems.

"The freshwater eels that were once prolific in the streams we played in as children are now facing extinction.

"Wild brown trout lakes across Ireland are disappearing due to the introduction of non-native species and the pollution associated with excessive farming practices.

"IFI must be expanded and strengthened so we can deliver on all that is required of us by extant national legislation and the ever-increasing burdens of EU directives and regulations.

"Those regulations serve to protect nature. Nature has no voice other than the human one."

Mr. O'Donnell was speaking at an Oireachtas committee.