Ambitious goals have been set to support Ireland’s €836 million recreational fishing industry.

Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) has launched a new Corporate Plan 2016-2020 which sets out work that needs to be carried out to protect, promote and develop Ireland’s fisheries resource over the next five years. Among these aims is the growth of angling, which supports 11,000 jobs in the country, with a view to increasing the number of domestic and international anglers in Ireland.

IFI’s Corporate Plan also focuses on the protection and conservation of freshwater fish and outlines how modern technology can protect the resource. Staff have recently adopted new methods to help them preserve Ireland’s rivers and lakes with fisheries officers now routinely using equipment such as spotting scopes, night sights, thermal imaging and mobile phone apps to help them in their work. They are also using kayaks, all-terrain vehicles, quads and bikes in fisheries patrols.
The organisation says that the Corporate Plan will deliver significant economic benefits in rural communities and offers the opportunity to improve the economic benefit of angling by up to €60 million a year as well as support an extra 1,400 Irish jobs.

Cairan Byrne, CEO of IFI said: “We know that angling is at a turning point in this country and it is vital that we reinvigorate the sector. The sport supports economic development opportunities and jobs. This plan outlines how, with the right budgetary and staff resources, we can maximise the potential of the resource while also ensuring that our environmental stewardship leaves the inland fisheries and sea angling sectors in a better position.”

Source: www.angling-international.com.