Sunset in easkey. It's just so beautiful and peaceful. Even my kids stopped to watch.
We've been down here a few times already since the holidays started in May. Each week hoping that the river would be perfect for the salmon to run upstream. I personally think it's cruel to catch the salmon when they've travelled so far to return their birthplace to spawn but it is so very exciting to see these stunning fish burst free from the water as a glistening streak of silver. To see them means that they have survived all the trawlers and dangers of the sea to make it home.
Rod fishermen are often blamed for the fall in salmon numbers here. But it is something that has been done for hundreds of years. And while I don't believe in the pastime, I also know that one fisherman with a rod can only catch a certain number of fish. He is not a problem. It is the trawlers out at sea, catching tonnes of fish at a time that is depleting the salmon quantities that survive long enough to spawn. Many salmon that are caught in the river are badly scarred from fishing nets that they have managed to free themselves from. This is a subject that I discuss with my husband regularly and that we both feel really strongly about, to the point where my he returns all fish to the river that he has caught. But just one person won't make much of a difference and each year less and less salmon run the river during the season and soon there won't be any at all. It makes me sad to the core.
I hadn't meant to come in here ranting and raving tonight but do you know what? I'm so glad that I did because it has made me feel so much better.
Anyway,
Night night all
Rosie xx
