Massive pike and eel poaching alleged

POACHING is as lucrative "in its own way" as drug dealing, a Fianna Fail TD claimed yesterday. Mr John Ellis was speaking at the Dail Committee of Public Accounts, which was attended by the Secretary of the Department of the Marine, Mr Thomas Carroll, and senior Department officials.

Mr Ellis complained of massive pike and eel poaching in Lough Allen and a number of Shannon lakes, by "freezer van tourists" from the Continent. He said lakes had been "netted" by tourists using cruise boats. In one case they had spread a monofilament net between two boats and dragged everything along after them.

Mr Carroll said that no doubt there were individual instances but coarse fish stocks were relatively stable. He added that the number of complaints to the Shannon regional board about continental anglers had dropped.

Mr Sean Doherty (FF) said that that was because people were "getting tired of complaining."

Mr Carroll said freezer vans were a problem in the late 1980s. But under regulations introduced in 1990, tourists were limited to two pike per day per person. He said that up to 90 per cent of prosecutions related to salmon poaching.