Sir - Re your article entitled Release of sea lice figures renews dispute" (June 27th). As chairman of the only angling organisation in Ireland which solely represents Salmon and Sea Trout anglers, I am at a loss to understand the statement by Mr. Mulcahy of the Salmon Growers Association which claims that the Save Our Sea Trout (SOS) group "were undermining efforts to mend bridges between angling and fish farming communities through the participation of both parties in the second Report of the Sea Trout Monitoring and Advisory Group."
Mr. Mulcahy goes on to try and praise the fish farmers for "reducing" lice levels on their cage sites. Looking at the Department's May monitoring figures for Kilkiaran Bay, we find figures ranging from 0.13 lice per fish on smolts which were put out a couple of months ago, to 76.29 lice per fish, on fish that were put into cages in 1995. This figure is on a fish farm whose main shareholder is a semi-state company.
The greatest threat to relations between the angling and fish farming communities is the fact that the fish farming fraternity will not admit that there is a problem, and that as far back as 1992 the Department stated that "in embayments in the West of Ireland 95 per cent of sea lice product ion came from fish farm cages." Anglers did not make that statement, it was published in the Sea Trout Task Force report.
The ISGA continue to state that the "public should ignore unsubstantiated reports of sightings of heavily liced fish." That is fair enough, but should the public ignore the scientific evidence collected by State agencies of heavily sea liced smolts returning to our rivers? The ISGA is very much like the ostrich. Bury your head in the sand and the problem will go away. Not so, and until they get their act together, the problem will not go away. From Sheep's Head in West Cork to Carlingford Lough in Co. Louth not one single river has sea lice/sea trout problems. The one element missing on that coast line is fish farming, what does the public think of that?
Yours, etc.
Federation of Irish Salmon and Sea Trout Anglers, Skibbereen, Co. Cork