Lakeside littering at north Meath's prime angling waters condemned

The Eastern Regional Fisheries Board (ERFB) has expressed its deep concern about a recent spate of dumping around some of north Meath's scenic angling lakes. Paddy Greene, an Inspector for the Dundalk Fishery District of the ERFB, has said littering and illegal dumping is causing serious concern to both local interests and angling tourism on several lakes in the north Meath area. "This problem also occurs at the waterways in the adjoining counties. These lakes are prime coarse angling waters with Ballyhoe the most notable, where three national specimens of bream, roach/bream hybrids and tench were captured in its waters in 2009," he said. Mr Greene said newly dumped rubbish is being discovered daily in car parks and amenity areas at the lakeshores, which is extremely annoying to local interests and a complete turn-off to overseas angling visitors. "Fishery officers have noticed an increase in this activity and, when relevant information can be found, it is passed on to the environmental sections of the local authorities who subsequently issue fines," he added. He added that very bad incidences of dumping of litter and rubbish has been recorded by the board at Whitewood Lake, near Kilmainhamwood, and there is also a serious problem at Mentrim Lake, near Drumconrath. "Generally, most visiting anglers have little complaints about the quality of angling but do complain about the litter. The board and stakeholders, in general, are conscious of the goodwill of landowners in allowing access to the waterways. They are also concerned with litter which anglers sometimes leave. Anglers are warned not to leave litter, it may jeopardise future access to these fisheries." Mr Greene added that, in the early 1970s when local tourism development interests formed the Drumconrath Angling Development Association to promote angling in the Drumconrath, Nobber and Kilmainhamwood areas, it assisted Meath County Council, Board Failte and the Inland Fisheries Trust to develop angling infrastructure on the Ballyhoe, Lough Bracken, Mentrim and Corrstown lakes. During that period ,angling festivals attracted many anglers to fish these lakes, filling local hotels and guesthouses, both in the area and adjoining towns, thus benefiting the local economy. "A recurring angling clientele of mainly English and German anglers was built up then and, though numbers have dramatically declined in recent years, many still come to the area and enjoy the fishing. The board, which has a marketing and promotional sectio,n attends many angling promotional events abroad to encourage anglers to come here and enjoy both the excellent angling and hospitality," said Mr Greene. "In recent years, substantial investment in angling infrastructure has been made by the Fishery Board, supported by local infrastructure, in upgrading the car parks and access roadways and adding angling stands to facilitate anglers. Recently, as a consequence of the litter problem, local community interests spent a weekend on a clean-up of the Ballyhoe lakes and provided materials to resurface the access roadway. The board encourages these initiatives and, where possible, supports the stakeholders who ultimately benefit from the amenity and angling tourism." The board is currently upgrading the angling infrastructure on Corrstown which cost in the region of €50,000. However, he added: "Despite complaints regarding fish stocks, the board is satisfied that stocks remain high and, as long as anglers respect the regulations brought in some years ago to conserve stocks, angling will continue to be enjoyed by the participants in the sport. Multi-lingual leaflet information and the erecting of multi-lingual information signage at many waters has led to a greater understanding and compliance of angling regulations which are there to ensure future sustainable angling. "It is understandable that many eastern European anglers would not have had an understanding of the coarse angling practice of catch and release of coarse fish in Irish waters. These fish would have been highly regarded for their high culinary value in their homelands, whereas in Ireland they are for sport angling only," he added. "There is now evidence that many other foreign nationals, now resident, are in full compliance with Irish conservation regulations and, in many instances, are returning their catches alive. Many have also joined and were welcomed to local angling clubs which manage the sport and game fisheries." Mr Greene said littering is an ongoing problem and has even increased in recent months. "Littering on lakes and riversides and waterways really annoys overseas tourists, who come to the north-east area for the fishing, which is mainly coarse angling, and such littering leaves a bad impression on them of our approach to the care of the countryside.". He says the problem of dumping is not unique to the Meath area. It is also a major problem elsewhere in the district, which also includes waters in parts of Louth, Monaghan and Cavan. Meath County Council's environment section is investigating the particular incident of dumping at Whitewood Lake.