Over recent years, there has been a greater effort by fisheries managers throughout Europe to learn more about the sea angling resource across EU member states. For this reason, Inland Fisheries Ireland established the Irish Marine Recreational Angling Survey (IMREC) in 2020 to collect information on fishing effort and catches in Irish waters.

It is hoped that the information gathered by the IMREC will help all stakeholders to better manage, conserve and protect the fisheries resource, thereby providing benefits for recreational sea angling in Ireland and supporting those small businesses involved in the sea angling sector.

With this in mind, back in June we asked Irish sea anglers to take part in the Irish Marine Recreational Fishing Online Survey and we had an unprecedented response, with over 1,230 completed survey forms. A teaser on some of the initial findings of the online survey can be found by clicking here or on the image below – and thanks to all those sea anglers who completed a survey form for us. Full analysis of the data collected will be conducted when the full survey programme has been completed.

In parallel, under the IMREC programme, a small team of Inland Fisheries Ireland research staff continue to carry out on-site surveys of any anglers they encounter at angling locations around the coastline. If, while fishing anywhere around the coast, you are approached by a member of our staff with a questionnaire, please take a few minutes to provide your own responses which will feed into the bigger picture on Irish sea angling.