Angling tourism nets major profits for Galway
Irish anglers took 360,000 day fishing trips in the West of Ireland, according to a new study showing that angling tourism was worth €755 million to the domestic economy.
The study by Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) shows that one of the main drivers of tourism in Galway – angling – resulted in a direct spend of €555 million in 2012, and an indirect spend of €200 million.
The angling tourism industry, according to the study, Socio-Economic Study of Recreational Angling, supports 10,000 jobs in rural Ireland including hundreds and hundreds in Galway.
The comprehensive, 161 page study, published this week shows the huge potential of the angling industry to rural areas in particular – some 406,000 people were involved in recreational fishing in Ireland last year with over 150,000 of them coming from overseas and Northern Ireland.
A spokesperson for IFI, Suzanne Campion, told the Connacht Tribune that the domestic market was as important, if not more important, to Galway as the overseas angling market.
She said that thousands of anglers from the east and south coasts of Ireland travel to Galway and the West for a ‘unique’ fishing experience – they sustain hundreds of jobs in related industries such as accommodation, hospitality, boat and rod hire etcetera.
Although she did not refer directly to the controversial proposed salmon fish farm on Galway Bay, the IFI spokesperson said that any proposed development that impacts on natural resources should only proceed as long as it does not negatively impact on the natural environment, is sustainable and doesn’t adversely impact on the existing jobs such as those supported by recreational fishing and angling.
Ms Campion explained that Galway City was unique for fishing. “The Galway salmon fishery is a world renowned fishery and is a major selling point to European anglers because of the uniqueness of fishing for wild salmon within a city setting. That is very unusual,” she said.
See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.