On Sunday 6th of August Aoife, Simon and I went to paddle Aasleigh falls at the end of the Erriff river. We had play boats with us for the Clifden competition. After looking at the main drop we started getting changed when a car from Inland Fisheries Ireland turned up with two staff that told us we couldn't paddle the river. The 3 main reasons for us not being allowed paddle according to them were
1. We would scare the fish away.
2. It was private property and fishermen have paid 75euro to fish there
3. We would need to show appropriate insurance to show we wouldn't claim off them.
We were chatting to them for about 15minutes maybe more. They were annoyed that we hadn't phoned ahead, particularly during the fishing season. So what to make of all this. On the positive side its rare to meet Inland Fisheries Ireland staff and even rarer for them to ask you not to paddle. On the downside this is a massive can of complicated worms and often you only hear 2nd hand old wives tales from way back.
So what were are sure of is they actually own the stretch up river, extending up two bridges and they can hand out on the spot fines for trespassing. Padraic O'Malley is the guy to ring ahead and give notice to. He was the line manager for the two we were talking to. 0872383652 is his number. padraic.omalley@fisheriesireland.ie. Keep in mind there is no phone reception at the falls. I don't agree with giving prior notice because it would be the start of an endless stream of meaningless phone calls but some people like to.
Another positive, it was good to met identifiable staff rather than the dodgy 'security' that the ESB occasionally have at Castleconnel. I've forgotten their names, maybe Aoife or Simon remember them. I forgot to ask if there times of day that were ok for paddling, such as late in the evening.
Us having accident insurance doesn't remove their responsibilities under the occupiers liability act so its no benefit to anyone for us to carry a copy of insurance. Perhaps we should have a copy of our 3rd party liability insurance with us electronically. Trying to explain this to the fisheries didn't seem like it was going to make a difference on the day so I didn't start.
About scaring fish. The UK Environment agency Report 'Effects of Canoeing on Fish Stocks
R&D Technical Report W266' concluded that 'The general conclusion from this study is that canoeing is not harmful to fish populations.' Unfortunately the guy I was talking to on the day was fairly sure we would scare all the fish away. Interestingly his research assistant colleague didn't want to join the discussion on scaring fish. I suspect the argument about scaring fish is complete nonsense and a better argument would be we might scare the fishermen away. But that's debatable.
So without burning any bridges or asking where he thought we might scare fish to? Or asking if he understood the Occupiers liability act we got out of our gear and left. In this case in fairness to the fishing community they had actually bought the land and gotten laws written about trespassing to be able to give on the spot fines.
Anyway, thats my 2 cent for the moment.
