Movement of Salmon from the South Coast in 1975

Abstract

In 1973, tagging investigations commenced into the origin of the salmon stocks being exploited by drift nets along the south coast of Ireland (8º0’W - 10º0’W). The exploitation of these stocks commenced in 1968 with a catch of 1,500 fish and by 1975 the catch had increased to 90,400. The results of the 1973-1974 programme and a description of the fishing methods used have been published in Fishery Leaflet No. 67. Throughout the programme, fish were tagged using Lea’s hydrostatic tags described by Went (1951). A marked difference in returns was observed in 1975 between salmon revived in sea water tanks and those released directly after tagging, In the former, a 14.8% recapture rate was recorded, compared with 6% in the case of salmon released immediately after tagging.