Royal canal lost as a gfishery thanks to poachers say anglers

Poachers are to blame for the dramatic fall in fish numbers in the Royal Canal around Mullingar and the subsequent collapse of angling tourism over the last decade, according to a local fisherman.

Last week the Westmeath Examiner reported that anglers had stopped fishing the canal around the town due to the alarming drop in fish numbers in the last ten years. After reading the article in last week’s paper, a local angler, who asked not be named but says he has fished the canal for more than three decades, contacted the paper to say that the drop in fish stock was due to widespread poaching in the area.

“I was up at the canal last Wednesday at Piper’s Boreen and there was a blizzard coming down. I was standing in under the bridge and saw two men live baiting (using live fish to catch other fish). It’s totally illegal to use live bait – and poaching is the reason why the canal is empty.

“I walk the canal every day, all last winter there were nets up at the canal at Baltrasna, at an area called the High Line. There were bow nets across the canal and they would have had to be serviced every day.”

The angler says that the lack of fish in the canal has put an end to the once lucrative angling tourism market in Mullingar.

“I remember around 15 years ago when you were up to Ballinderry and Piper’s Boreen in summer there could be 20 or 30 English anglers – now there’s nobody. It’s poached out, that’s the bottom line.

“No one is fishing the canal because it’s fish-less. It is still promoted in English magazines though. But can you imagine English tourists coming over to that?”
The angler says that Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) needs to be proactive when it comes to tackling the poaching problem in the Mullingar area.

“It needs to be restocked, patrolled and policed. Fifteen years ago, you would get carp, bream, tench, a load of species. It was an incredible fishery but you would get nothing out of it now. It’s lost as a fishery now.”