A bye-law which defers the opening of the salmon angling season at Pontoon Bridge until June 1 has been renewed by the Minister for State at the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Sean Power TD.
The bye-law will conserve stocks of spring salmon and the opening was deferred following a request from the North Western Regional Fisheries Board.
The bye-law also applies to the Cross River, upstream of the railway bridge, and to the River Deel, downstream of Knockadangan Bridge. The new bye-law will remain in place for a three-year period after which it will be reviewed.
The CEO of the North Western Regional Fisheries Board, Vincent Roche, said the previous bye-law, which had been introduced in 2006, had been very effective in conserving valuable stocks of spring salmon in the Moy catchment. However, numbers of salmon spawning on the Deel were still lower than they should be and the board was grateful that the Minister had agreed to its request to renew the provisions of the old bye-law for a further three years to allow stocks to recover.
Meanwhile, the new salmon angling season on the River Moy itself got under way last Sunday.
