New Conservation Laws for Coarse And Pike Fishing Now Available in 8 Different Languages
Press Release - 21st August 2006

The Eastern Regional Fisheries Board is pleased to announce that the new conservation bye-laws to protect Ireland’s coarse and pike fisheries, recently signed by the Minister of State for the Marine, Mr. John Browne, TD, are now available in 8 different languages.

The new bye-laws will provide the Fisheries Boards’ with improved legislation to prosecute offenders more effectively. Due to the recent increase in poaching and the excessive killing of coarse fish by rod and line, strict legislation is needed to protect current coarse and pike fish stocks. As always, the assistance of anglers and angling clubs who report any incidences of illegal activity is greatly appreciated by the Board and these matters will be acted on by the Eastern Regional Fisheries Board staff. Anyone found guilty of poaching or illegal fishing can expect to face prosecution, a substantial fine\costs and confiscation of fishing equipment and fish caught.

The new coarse bye-law (bye-law 806) provides for:

• a bag limit of four fish per day;

• a ban on the killing of coarse fish greater than 25cm in length;

• a ban on the sale of any coarse fish in Ireland (excluding Northern Ireland). This provision will not apply to tackle dealers and bait suppliers who have been granted an exemption from their local regional fisheries board

The new pike bye-law (bye-law 809) provides for:

• A bag limit of one pike in any one day

• A ban on the killing of any pike greater than 50cm in length

• A ban on the possession of more than one pike less than 50cm in length or more than .75kg of pike flesh. This provision does not apply to anyone storing pike or pike parts subject to conditions

• A ban on the possession of more than 12 coarse fish for use as bait subject to conditions

In order to inform all anglers of the new conservation bye-laws, the Board has translated the bye-laws and a summary of the laws relating to coarse and pike into Polish, Latvian, Lithuanian, German, Hungarian, Russian, Irish and French. The bye-laws are available in English or in any of the above languages by request.

If you wish for a summary or a full version of the bye-laws, please e-mail info@erfb.ie and type ‘Bye-Law Request’ in the subject line. Alternatively, you can contact the Eastern Regional Fisheries Board office on (01) 2787022.

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