One of our more sought-after edible migrants is facing extinction in the south east. The fishing season on the River Nore will open on St Patrick's Day. In years past, anglers from St Mullin's in south Carlow, along the snake-like course of the river through Co Kilkenny and on to Durrow, Co Laois, would herald the date with fanfare. Competition was fierce to catch the elusive first silver-coated spring salmon from the river.
This year, there will be few if any rod men casting off on March 17th. Pollution, urban and rural, has taken its toll. Drift net fishermen on the estuaries and further out have stopped many of the species making their migratory journey from Greenland to their place of birth.
And man-made obstacles, an elder statesman of the river has claimed, are making it difficult for the salmon to return to their spawning grounds.
Mr John Dalton from Bishopshill, Kilkenny, has had a life-long interest in the River Nore. Reared on its edge, he has spent 60 years fishing the river, watching the pink-fleshed fish all but disappear. "The much prized spring salmon is gone and the great stands along the river will be deserted on March 17th," he said ruefully.
"Upstream from the city, Bally-ragget and Durrow never see a salmon, whereas 40 years ago there were men out every day with a line, coming home with good sized fish," he said. "Later in the season, you would get fish weighing 20 or 30 lbs; now the heaviest, if any, would be 10 lbs."
The secretary of the Kilkenny City and County Anglers Association wants those interested in the river to unite and force the Government into remedial action to halt the decline. However, it may be too late.
Up to 10 years ago every sitting of the District Court in Thomastown (covering some of the best fisheries in the country) would throw up at least one prosecution for illegal salmon fishing.
But even the poachers have given up on the River Nore; prosecutions are now as rare as hens' teeth.
The official line is even more damning. Mr Ed Stack, Bleach Road, Kilkenny, is on the Southern Fisheries board. Last week he attended a board meeting where two renowned marine experts said there were not enough salmon returning to spawn on the Nore to maintain stocks.
"We are now posed with the real danger that there will be no salmon in the River Nore within 10 years," Mr Stack said.
The number of fish returning to spawn each autumn has been dropping for the last decade and the decline may be irreversible, he believed.
He is another who feels deeply about the need to preserve the salmon. "We were told that the Nore, Barrow and Suir rivers had the potential to become the best fisheries in the country but the technical advice is to close down our fisheries to ensure the survival of the salmon," Mr Stack said.
Will the rod men take the brunt of the drastic action needed for the survival of the wild Atlantic salmon? From March 1st each inland fisherman in the country will be limited to one fish per day and there will be even tighter controls from June 1st.