Fisheries merger

West’s fisheries boards to merge?

Anna-Marie Flynn

FEARS are mounting that a new Government policy will see the west’s two regional fisheries boards amalgamated – resulting in completely over-stretched resources.
As part of a proposed Government plan, the realignment of existing regions with River Basin Districts, set up in recent years for the implementation of the Water Framework Directive, has been mooted.  The move will see regional fisheries agencies come under the direct control of a national authority. Should this go ahead, Western and North Western Boards would merge into a single body.
The Chairperson of North Western Regional Fisheries Board (NWRFB), John Walkin, stressed that any merger would have negative consequences.
“This is something both boards are vehemently opposed to. Both believe that such amalgamation would not be in the interests of effective management of the fisheries in either region given the vast area involved. I believe this proposed amalgamation must be strongly resisted,” he said.
Should the move go ahead, the sole western regional area will stretch from Ballinamore in Co Leitrim to north Clare, covering 6,000 square miles of land, 5,500 square miles of sea and a coastline of 1,500 miles. Six fishery districts would be headed up by just one Chief Executive Officer while staff numbers are expected to be reduced from 40 to just eleven.