94% of Lough Sheelin trout anglers now catch-and-release more fish from lake
Fishing the Lough Sheelin shoreline. The survey showed that 94% of the lough’s anglers now catch-and-release more fish from the lake than they did when they first started.
An Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) survey has found that 94% of Sheelin anglers are now releasing more of the trout they catch back into Lough Sheelin than they did when they started fishing.
The research involved 132 participants, and more than half of these had over 25 years’ experience fishing for wild brown trout in the lake.
This change in attitude was recorded through a method developed by IFI called Fishers’ Local Ecological Knowledge Surveillance Indicators, which is designed to track environmental impacts and changes in fish stocks through local information sources by asking anglers about different aspects of the fishery now, compared to when they started fishing on the lake.
Farmland threat
Lough Sheelin is surrounded by lowland farmland and its status as one of Ireland Great Lakes came under threat throughout the 1970s and 1980s as the lake became eutrophic due to nutrient enrichment, including with phosphorous, which promoted the growth of algae.
Eutrophication of the lake also favoured population growth of roach, a non-native species introduced into Lough Sheelin in the 1970s, which altered predator–prey relationships and population dynamics among pike, roach and trout in the lake. Since they arrived in Lough Sheelin in the early 2000s, zebra mussels are thought to have increased water clarity by filter-feeding algal plankton. Although phosphorous-loading declined between the late 1980s to mid-2000s, it has fluctuated in the lake since then and remains at a moderate level.
Over the years, IFI has worked with local anglers and the Lough Sheelin Trout Protection Association (LSTPA) to conserve trout stocks, to protect their habitat and to develop the Lough Sheelin angling resource. Mitigation measures have included water quality monitoring, habitat enhancement in spawning streams, stocking with hatchery-reared trout, promoting catch-and-release angling and pike management.
Heathier status
Wild trout stocks declined in the 1980s and 1990s as the lake became eutrophic, but stock surveys and angling reports indicate that trout stocks in Lough Sheelin have returned to a healthier status in recent years, despite the environmental pressures and ecological changes in the lake ecosystem.
These dramatic changes in Lough Sheelin over the decades have directly impacted anglers’ experience of this fishery.
Dr Cathal Gallagher, Head of Research and Development at IFI, commented: “The trends, over the four decades studied in the research, were mostly positive regarding the abundance and size of trout in the lake and its ecosystem.
“Respondents commented they now believe the lake is currently fishing well.
“However, some expressed concerns about threats to Lough Sheelin’s trout stocks, including pollution, pressure from angling activity, poor water quality, and protection of fish.
“This research highlights the growth in awareness of fish conservation among anglers.
“Seasoned fishers on Lough Sheelin have a deep understanding of the lake’s surrounding ecology that’s been developed through long-term interactions with the natural environment.”
Lough Sheelin continues to attract anglers nationwide and internationally.
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