A SUBSTANTIAL quantity of illegal fishing equipment and fish was seized last year by the South Western Regional Fisheries Board, and hundreds of on-the-spot fines were issued to anglers for non-compliance with log-book regulations, the board’s annual report has disclosed.
More than 200 on-the-spot fines for illegal fishing were issued in Cork and Kerry and the general public contacted the board with increasing frequency with information, according to the report, which was published yesterday.
Some 75kg of eels taken illegally were seized by officers in Cork along with salmon and dozens of illegal nets in Kerry.
There was full compliance with log book returns from commercial salmon and sea trout fishermen. Anglers still lagged behind, with just over three-quarters returning their log books.
More than 330 on-the-spot fines of about €50 a fine were issued to anglers for failing to return their books for the 2008 season.
Aidan Barry, chief executive of South Western Regional Fisheries Board, said log book compliance had come from a very low base – the southwest had the lowest levels of compliance in the State when the regulations were introduced.
Use of illegal equipment had been most problematic in the coarse fishing sector and the Iniscarra lakes in particular, he said.
The board also received 217 reports of an environmental nature during the years relating to interference with watercourses, gravel removal, waste discharge as well as non-compliance with planning conditions.