Slow Food Visit

This Sunday, December 10th, the Cork Convivium of Slow Food is having its festive lunch at Deasy’s Pub in Ring near Clonakilty; on their way they will be calling in on us at Inchybridge for a pre-lunch taster. I am just hoping that the weather forecasters have got their predictions all wrong for Sunday!

If anyone is interested in joining in last minute, phone Simone at 021 4505819.

We are madly smoking 7 days a week around the clock, so a brief interlude with maybe just a petite coup of a gorgeous wine from Febvre Wine Merchants will be most welcome!

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.

Salone del Gusto and Terra Madre

Last Thursday a Food Community met at Cork Airport at 6.15am to catch a flight which would take them to the Lingotto Centre in Turin, Italy to participate in Terra Madre, a gathering of 6,500 people from 150 countries of the world.

This group consisted of a cheesemaker, salmon smoker (me!), a food writer, a farmers’ market stallholder, a distributor of fine foods, a couple of academics (who clearly enjoy food!), a charcuterie specialist or two, and a seed saver/farmer plus a representative of Bord Bia and the “leaders” from West Cork Leader Group
At Terra Madre, a logistical marvel, we broke up into various work groups where discussions and debates were held on many topics. Do have a look at the Terra Madre web site for images and details of an amazing few days. Needless to say, the food was brilliant, the wine great and the weather ideal- and we were NOT on holiday!

And we did return on Monday night, maybe not all but one quarter did!

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.