The Thunderer and Wild Salmon

A fair article in the London Times today about the Irish Wild Salmon fishery.

Worth a read by clicking here.

No more Smoked Wild Salmon

There have been years when I thought that we would run out of wild salmon before Christmas, but we never have until now.

It is with regret that we have had to close our order books for Smoked Wild Salmon as from yesterday, November 28th. Hopefully we have sufficient stock to meet our existing orders, but there will be disappointed customers  who have, every year over the last twenty or thirty years, enjoyed Ummera Smoked Wild Salmon at Christmas time.

We do have our very successful Smoked Organic Salmon to replace the wild salmon, so all is not lost.

It is our hope that, by leaving the wild salmon alone for a while, there will be significant increase in the numbers of salmon returning to spawn in the rivers and thus restoring the salmon stocks.

I have had suggested to me that maybe we could by wild salmon from elsewhere, Alaska for instance, or Norway, but we have always smoked Irish Salmon and we are very careful about the provenance of our products. Why ship salmon all the way from Alaska to smoke here? Air miles?

Of course this brings back the question: Is it Smoked Irish Salmon or Irish Smoked Salmon? So much of the salmon that purports to be Irish is more than likely to have been salmon farmed in Scotland, the Shetlands, Norway and probably even Chile.

We can vouch for the fact that our organic salmon comes from Clare Island in Clew Bay, Co. Mayo and our wild salmon came from fishermen in West Cork.

Drift Net Ban to hit salmon producers – Press Extract

Sunday Business Post 5^th November 2006 – Extract from article by Adam McGuire

…But some producers are supportive of the new legislation.

Anthony Creswell, owner of Ummera Smokehouse in Timoleague, Co Cork, said he welcomed the government’s decision, but said that if it had followed scientific recommendations before now, a ban on drift-net fishing might not have been necessary.

‘‘It’s probably the best thing the department has done in a long time. The government has spent too long taking political, rather than realistic, decisions,” said Creswell.

He said his company had put more emphasis on organic salmon long before now, due to the inevitable decline of salmon stocks. Over the past three years, the company has slowly shifted its production to organic. He said the ban would have little impact on business.

End Quote

By way of clarification, we have do have smoked wild salmon available, and we very much hope to be smoking Irish Wild Salmon in the years ahead – but only from sustainably caught stock.

The Three Wise Men

The recommendations of the Three Wise Men on proposals for the wild salmon fishery that have been adopted by the Irish Government can be read/downloaded at:

3 Wise Men!

It is 100 pages in length, but the Executive Summary (7 pages) is worth a read. The rest will be of interest to those more closely involved.

A Sustainable Salmon Fishery – Yes!

Last October at Slow Fish in Genoa, Italy questions were asked about why Slow Food were apparently supporting a fish product which was being caught in an unsustainable fishery. The product was Irish Smoked Wild Atlantic Salmon. The unsustainable part was all about the interceptory and multi-stock nature of the Irish Drift Net Fishery.

Today, November 1st 2006, will be regarded by all interested in the conservation of Wild Atlantic Stocks as being the day when commonsense eventually prevailed and the Irish Government agreed to the ban of the Drift Net fishery around the coasts of Ireland. Ever since mono-filament nets appeared in the 1960’s, the wild salmon have been under threat. During the 1970’s and 80’s millions of salmon were taken by these invisible ghosts.

Governments of all persuasions have prevaricated over decisive action for fear of losing coastal votes. The facts have been there for all to see, certainly in recent years, but still the politicians have delayed. Catches of Wild Salmon have dropped by half in the last five years.

It has taken the threat of heavy fines from the EU to persuade the Government to take this action, nothing to do with the preservation and conservation of the wild salmon. Is it simple cynicism on  my behalf, but am I not wrong in believing that it is only votes which politicians think of, not conservation, not preservation, not making the place a better place to live, just simply votes?

And only the threat of fines or brown envelopes make them think otherwise!

But back to the title – with today’s decision, the Irish Wild Salmon fishery will be sustainable and Ummera will buy wild salmon again. Not many, but they will be from sustainable stocks, from rivers which have a surplus to their spawning capacity.

2006 Salmon Quotas announced – a good day for the salmon

The newly appointed Minister of Marine, John Browne TD, has announced that he is adopting the recommendations of the National Salmon Commission.

The full announcement can be read at: Minister’s Announcement

Ummera welcomes the contents of this announcement as it at last gives some encouragement to those who have been concerned about the dramatically declining stocks of wild salmon in Irish waters. 

It will undoubtedly have a serious impact on our business from next year, but I would prefer that than see salmon stocks declining to the point of extinction. I am sure that there will be wild salmon available in the future for us to smoke, but it may take several years before it can make a viable business. In the meantime, we are much encouraged by the response to our smoked organic salmon, our smoked chicken and smoked dry cured bacon rashers.

There has been far too much hot air and unsubstantiated statements from both sides, and both anglers and commercial fishermen are as guilty as each other. I trust that the anglers will not now cheer at the sufferings of the drift netsmen; they have to remember that, for the anglers, it is a hobby, but for the netsmen, it is part of their livelihood. For the drift netsmen, they must accept that they are part of the reason why stocks have declined so much recently – not the sole reason, but still an important part; those 100,000 fish that will be spared the net next year and thereafter will provide the basis on which our salmon stocks will start to grow once again.

The anglers have now to demonstrate their belief in conservation, by ensuring that catch and release is practiced wherever and whenever as witness of their concern for salmon stocks, especially in those rivers which are deemed to have stocks below the conservation limit.

A good day for the salmon – at long last.

 

Political Debate

The Irish opposition party, Fine Gael, have come out with their policy regarding wild salmon stocks; I have yet to see a copy but it will contribute, I’m sure, to the debate which is going to intensify over the next few months. Hopefully, commonsense will prevail and we will be able to have a sustainable fishery this year. I don’t really want to see this blog developing into a platform for this debate, but as there is so much mis-information and ignorance about, I will gladly help to provide answers to your questions.