Controversial proposal for angling on Moy is scrapped

The controversial ‘brown tag’ designation planned for the river Moy this year, which would have seen prospective anglers at the mercy of a lottery system, has been removed from revised draft regulations.

The Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment published an amendment to the Wild Salmon and Sea Trout Tagging Scheme Regulations and Conservation Measures for 2026 last week.

The previous draft regulations, published last November, were met with consternation by local anglers and fishing groups as it had been proposed that the Moy would be designated as a brown tag river.

Under these proposals anglers would need to have been in possession of a brown tag to be issued via a lottery to fish for salmon on the Moy.

In addition, it had been proposed that the maximum number of tags to be issued would be 1,044, meaning that would be the maximum number of salmon that could have been caught during the harvest window from June 1 until August 31. In 2024, 4,152 salmon were caught on the river Moy, about a quarter of Ireland’s total salmon catch. Data published by the Technical Expert Group on Salmon (TEGOS) in their latest report show a total of 2,329 salmon were caught on the river Moy last year.

Local fishing groups and fishermen expressed concern over these initial proposals. The Moy Action Group raised a number of concerns with Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI), including issues with how fish were being counted at populated locations such as the Queen’s Gap where the majority of fish passed through on the Moy.

The amended draft regulations, which are now in a period of public consultation closing on March 5 having been published last week, has removed the Moy as a fishery district to which brown tags would apply.

In addition, the maximum number of tags has been increased to 2,553. It is proposed that the river would remain open for harvest for the same period of time between June 1 and August 31.

The Moy Action Group were expected to hold a meeting last night (Monday) to discuss the amended regulations.

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