Over the weekend of the 5th of January the Slaney River Trust received a report of a fish kill in upper waters of the Boro with many small dead silver fish. The worst was feared and it looked like we had a damaging kill on our hands. IFI’s Stephen Byrne and Donnagha Byrne were quickly on the scene and confirmed the presence of of 2-300 dead fish.
Incredibly they turned out to be sprats – a sea fish! Why anyone would dump dead sea fish in a river is beyond comprehension. While the good news is that there was no damage done to an important nursery area on the Boro, this is another indication of the scale of the litter problem in the country. Many thanks to IFI for the speedy response!
The 2013 catch and release bye law confirms that the Slaney will be open for catch and release again in 2013. Single barbless hooks will be required to be used and all salmon returned as soon as possible. Worms are banned. The specific regulations dealing with the opening and closing dates and any specific regulation such as possible restrictions to fly only on all or part of the river have not yet been published .
Slaney River Trust