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Homepage des North Atlantic Salmon Fund (NASF): www.nasfworldwide.com/

Vorsitzender: Orri Vigfússon
North Atlantic Salmon Fund
Skipholti 35
105 Reykjavik
Iceland

Sie sind hier: Kampagnen > Irland > Slow Food > Protestmail von Orri Vigfússon

Slow Food Kampagne

Protestmail von Orri Vigfússon, 17. November 2005

Carlo Petrini, Chairman,
Slow Food
Via della Mendicita Instruita,
14-12042 Bra (Cn),
Italia
c.petrini@slowfood.it

Dear Carlo,

You may not remember me but we met at last year´s Time magazine European Hero presentations when we received their prestigeous awards.

I am writing to you because of events at last week´s Genoa conference on Slow Fish when Irish commercial interests claimed sustainability for wild Irish salmon. Nothing could be further from the truth.

As it is a complete nonsense to suggest that wild salmon numbers are being sustained I would advise you most earnestly to withdraw this certification before it can do serious damage to the Slow Food brand. If it remains the campaigns to restore wild salmon stocks that are now well below safe biological levels will also be badly hurt

I am surprised this should have come up. I tried to warn your organisation at the beginning of this year that there might be an effort to hide the facts about Irish salmon drift netting by seeking an endorsement from your organisation. I believe I discussed this matter with Andrea Bufka, Director of External Relations.

Very briefly let me give you some of the facts of the situation:

• Some 30 years ago, about 1000 families in Ireland earned a living from wild salmon fishing. Because of their over-fishing wild salmon numbers have rapidly declined. Today the fishery only sustains jobs for about 50 families and the season (and the work it provides) is limited to two months in the year.
• This is a mixed-stock fishery. Apart from catching fish returning to Irish rivers, it intercepts many of the wild salmon that would otherwise return to the rivers of Ireland, Wales, Southern England, France, Spain and Germany. The route these fish follow on their homeward journey takes them down the west coast of Ireland.
• For a decade or more the International Council for the Exploratio of the Sea (ICES) has issued repeated annual warnings to the Irish Government to stop this mixed-stock netting of wild salmon. The Irish drift nets and many of their draft nets target mixed stocks of salmon that unfortunately include fish from the most depleted rivers in Europe.
• More French salmon tags are recaptured in Irish nets than are recovered in French waters.
• Every other nation has agreed to stop drift netting for Atlantic salmon. Ireland, on the other hand, not only continues to license its drift net fishery but over the last ten years has allowed its drift nets to increase their share of the total EU salmon catch from 26% to 51%.
• European salmon restoration efforts will remain at a standstill until the Irish net fishery is removed. The NASF Coalition of stakeholders in France, Spain, Germany, England and Wales has claimed the right under Article 66 of the United Nation Law of the Sea Treaty to share in the management of their salmon whle their fish are in Irish waters. The Irish Government has ignored this request and has evaded and avoided all constructive dialogue.
• The Irish Government continues to issue salmon quotas 50% - 100% above levels recommended by its own scientists even though the stocks are slowly disappearing.
• EU taxpayers gave Ireland ?24 million to develop tourist angling. Not long ago 11% of Ireland's visitors were anglers. Thanks to Irish salmon policy and the resulting dearth of salmon in Irish rivers, that number is now down to a mere 1%. The Irish government got the ?24 million on the understanding it would be used to create two thousand new jobs in angling tourism. Instead Ireland has lost, still further5, about 1,000 lucrative jobs in coastal communities.
• The full EU Commission has upheld the complaints of the Wessex Salmon and Rivers Trust and other river organisations that in killing salmon from SAC rivers the Irish government is in breach of the EU Habitat Directive. The response of the Irish government has been very delayed. Unless the Commission is prepared to accept the claims made in the response, Ireland will face prosecution in the European Courts.

The fact is that just about every scientist deplores the way Ireland handles wild salmon issues. The international salmon fraternity has continually expressed its concern at the way Ireland is preventing progress towards a full restoration of wild salmon numbers.

We urge you to act swiftly. The sooner you do that the greater the likelihood that Ireland will mend its ways. Then Irish salmon smoke houses will be able to look forward with confidence to the day when they can fairly claim a right to label their product with the Slow Food brand.

Sincerely,
Orri

Orri Vigfússon, Chairman
North Atlantic Salmon Fund
Skipholti 35
105 Reykjavik
Iceland

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