Monday, 26th of April 2021: Inland Fisheries Ireland is requesting all salmon and sea trout anglers who have not returned last seasons (2020) angling logbook and unused gill tags to do so immediately. The logbooks and unused gill tags are necessary to provide vital data to make evidence based decisions on Ireland’s wild Atlantic Salmon and Sea Trout stocks into the future.
In accordance with the Wild Salmon and Sea Trout Tagging Scheme, anglers are required by law to return their completed logbook (setting out their fishing and catch record), and all unused tags to the issuing office of Inland Fisheries Ireland with 7 days of licence expiry and no later than 19th of October annually.
Suzanne Campion, Head of Business Development at Inland Fisheries Ireland said: ‘Salmon stocks are at a critical point and their survival is dependent on efforts made to manage and conserve this precious species. IFI is appealing to those anglers that have yet to return their logbooks to do so now. Anglers’ logbooks are a key part of the management process and we need your logbook information to inform the protection and conservation of this resource for future generations of anglers and salmon.”
The return of logbooks and tags can be done via the ‘prepaid postage return envelope’ which was supplied at the time of license purchase. In the absence of the prepaid postage return envelope, anglers can return their completed logbook and unused tags to the Inland Fisheries Ireland office addressed on their licence/logbook. Alternatively scanned logbooks and licences may be emailed to salmonlogbookreturn@fisheriesireland.ie. Kindly note that both sides and any continuation pages should be included in the scan to ensure the licence names and number can be linked to the correct logbook. The records from this year’s angler returns are vital to support management decisions in 2022.
As part of the Scheme, an angler must attach a valid gill tag to a salmon (any size) or sea trout (over 40cm) immediately on landing, followed by an entry to their logbook of their catch and gill-tag used. If the fish is to be released, anglers must also make a catch record in their logbook.
Any queries in relation to the Wild Salmon and Sea Trout Tagging Scheme can be sent to salmonlogbookreturn@fisheriesireland.ie.