Report of Irish Seal Sanctuary delegate to the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organisation ( NASCO ) 2009 Annual Conference, held this year in Molde, Norway.

The conference was centred this year in the coastal fishing region of the town of Molde where 25% of Norway’s sea fishermen hail from. Delegates and state representatives of Countries and organisations who are signatories to the nasco North Atlantic convention on wild salmon were among the attendance. These were from a wide International and Intercontinental background, with management and scientific skills and access to bodies such as ICES etc.,. The EU delegation took a prominent part in debates and were very ready to put forward their opinions on matters under discussion.

Overall the business of the meeting was conducted in a highly efficient professional manner.

At the opening of proceedings on the first day of the meeting the ISS was welcomed and presented to the meeting by the Nasco president as a new NGO member. The ngo group’s chairman and spokesperson, Mr. Chris Poupard. in his opening address to the meeting also gave us a glowing welcome to nasco. We were able to subscribe to this NGO grouping as it’s aims on the survival of the wild salmon species are compatible with ISS views on conservation. The above opinion was formed on reading a draft document, agreed by the Ngo grouping prior to commencement of proceedings at the conference, which was given to me by Mr. Poupard. Being affiliated to this group has a distinct advantage, I believe, in having individual voices heard in making comments, or in asking questions through the medium of the spokesperson, as it appears to have greater import to those to whom they are addressed.

I also attended an important meeting within the NGO grouping, – outside of the official scheduled NASCO Agenda items, – at which I was able to contribute to a debate on a particular Irish issue on which the group had limited up to date knowledge. I was thanked by the chairman for my contribution.

It would be impossible to cover in this report in any in depth format, all the happenings at the many meetings and side events that were occurring daily at this gathering, but one item cannot go without serious comment, and putting down a marker for monitoring and taking action in future on what appears to be now a recurring theme in the wild salmon debate. The above item I am referring to is the showing of a colour slide at the end of a presentation, of a seal dining on what was purported to be a wild salmon, with the presenter posing the question, – is it now time to look at the possibility that seals are contributing in a major way to the decline in salmon numbers? This red herring conclusion would benefit several vested interests who failed to protect wild salmon from the predations of humans. The slide was not as provocative as the slides shown at the Shannon Regional Fisheries Board National Conference, a month previous to Molde, where the slides showed salmon torn to shreds by seals pulling them from salmon nets.

To conclude on a positive note I can say with sincerity that I believe that the presence of the ISS in NASCO will be of benefit to the marine environment, and that nasco has nothing to fear from like minded conservationists. Indeed I pointed out to the NGO grouping (at the ngo meeting mentioned above) that in reality seals were their friends and that they should be thankful to them that salmon have been given a chance of survival.

Pat Peril.