Sir, Ireland has some of the best brown trout fishing in Europe, but are we taking sufficient care of it or are we yet again squandering these precious resources?
Mary Holland reported in this paper some five years ago about the depletion of the sea trout along the west coast's lakes and rivers. Fish farming in these areas created a dramatic infestation of sea lice that attacked the sea trout and to a lesser extent the salmon migrating up to the rivers and lakes to spawn.
A few years later Lough Currane in Kerry, unquestionably the best lake in Ireland for specimen sea trout, suffered a similar fate because of fish farming. Many anglers would consider Lough Sheelin to have been the best lake in Ireland for its large brown trout. But that all changed when pig slurry leached into the lake after been spread on the farm land surrounding the lake over a number of years. This lake has not fully recovered and it is doubtful if it ever will recover to its former glory.
Is Lough Cullin, a beautiful shallow lake adjoining Lough Conn in Mayo, to be the latest victim? In May last year Lough Cullin, other than some bays, particularly those on the western shores, suffered from algae. This year all of Lough Cullin, renowned for its free rising brown trout and its early mayfly fishing, was unfishable because of this algae, and all apparently be cause of the tardiness of the Castlebar council in installing a tertiary sewage system that even has EU funding.
The countless small lakes and rivers in Connemara, Lough Currane in Kerry, Lough Sheelin in the Midlands and now Lough Cullin in Mayo have all suffered because of the apparent uncaring and short term attitudes from persons or public bodies who have the power to prevent it. When one considers the money generated in these areas by fishermen and women, and the non fishing tourists who come to enjoy the scenic beauty, one wonders at the madness of allowing the destruction of such natural resources.
It was natural a year or so ago to expect hotels in the centre of such great fishing areas to have wild trout on their menus. This year I visited two such hotels in Mayo and Galway and both could only serve farmed trout from fish farms. Concern for the chemicals and the make up of the food pellets given to brown trout, sea trout and salmon in these fish farms ensured that I declined such farmed fish. Yours, etc., Belmont Park, Derry.