The River Irvine Angling Improvement Association are holding their AGM this Sunday evening (15th May, 7pm) at the Scout Hall, New Farm Loch Kilmarnock.
Amongst the usual reports will be a discussion on the pro’s and con’s of establishing a district salmon fishery board for the river. Brian Davidson, Operations Director of the Association of Salmon Fishery Boards will be in attendance to provide information and to answer questions.
This meeting promises to be very interesting and is open to all Irvine and district anglers.
I have fished the Irvine and its tributaries since I was a boy. Despite all its problems the Irvine can still offer great fishing, and it deserves all the additional protection a DFB can bring.
Attended the RIAIA meeting, still think a DSFB on the River Irvine would be a bad idea for the angling clubs on the River Irvine & River Garnock as they would have to finance it. Can clubs afford the extra expence I don’t think so.
May suit some clubs that are are not paying crown estate leases, but to try and find an extra £2/3grand a year to fund will cripple most clubs on the irvine.Dont know the finances of every club but think that on a whole memberships are down therefore revenue down profit down clubs are running on a shoestring-seroiusly unsure!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for the comments. The affordability of a DSFB on the Irvine will obviously be a cruicial decision. However there are no prescriptions saying how much it should or would cost to run a DSFB. I’m sure a fishery board on the Irvine could be run for under £10,000/annum. Ultimately the costs of this would fall back on the anglers on the river but there are over 1000 club anglers on the river.
The Irvine isn’t dissimilar to the Ayr; okay there is more of a mix of club & private water on the Ayr, but it is still largely a club river. The clubs on the Ayr seem to manage okay, and some of them have hefty Crown Estate rents, but they also have good fishing.