Almost 5,000 pike were culled and removed from the Lough Corrib Catchment in 2022 by local anglers pushing for legislative change to protect native salmon and trout.

Anglers who removed some 4,960 pike from the Corrib in the past twelve months risked fines for breaching two national bye-laws (806 and 809) which protect non-native and invasive pike.

But the local anglers continued to cull pike with rod and line angling because they insist that the bye-laws are fundamentally flawed and do not comply with European law including the EU Habitats Directive.

In a letter to Inland Fisheries Ireland, and copied to local politicians, the anglers warned that analysis of culled invasive pike stomach contents found that one in every twelve pike had consumed a native salmonid species.

Oughterard angler, Michael Donnellan, outlined to the authorities how the Lough Corrib Catchment is a combination of three European Sites of Community Interest (Natura 2000), which fall under the Habitats Directive and Water Framework Directives.

He described Natura 20000 as the world’s largest conservation project, and Ireland’s pike conservation bye-laws, “run contrary to our legal obligations under the Habitats Directive”.

Mr Donnellan wrote to IFI with copies of photographs of pike culled in the past year from Lough Corrib Special Area of Conservation (SAC), Maamturk Mountains SAC and Connemara Bog Complex SAC.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App

Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.

Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.

Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite  HERE.

Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google