Sorry, did I say fished? I meant something else …
A two-day International Conference ‘Celebrating River Restoration in Ireland and Europe’ organised by MulkearLIFE and hosted by the project’s coordinating beneficiary Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) took place in Limerick this week. The project received € 1.7 million in public money. Local anglers tried to protest the EU gathering because IFI and subsidiary groups are mismanaging fisheries and regulating anglers off the riverbanks in the process.
One example of this is the IFI handing out an on the spot fine of €100+ to an 87 year old pensioner for fishing the wrong type hook; this is while ignoring the illegal netting practices taking place on the Lower Shannon which is at epidemic levels.
Anglers on our beat have eschewed fishing for a number of years as a contribution to conservation, but it all seems so futile when public money is wasted and the people who contribute the most to riparian maintenance are fished (I mean something else) by the state.
It’s another sign of increasing state control of people’s lives, not just in Ireland or Europe, but North America and elsewhere too. (Eg Yahoo ‘threatened’ by US government with $250,000-a-day fine if it does not hand over users’ data.)
Europa: MulkearLIFE end-of-project conference notice (second item)
Notes from protesters on Trout and Salmon Fishing Forum
Limerick and District Anglers’ Association notice of protest
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