Eel fisherman urges support package rethink

A new financial scheme to support eel fishermen on Lough Neagh should be "urgently" reconsidered, according to a seventh generation fisherman.

The Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs Minister Andrew Muir announced the £100,000 package to support fishermen after the eel-fishing season was abandoned in Summer 2025, for the first time in living memory.

But eel fisherman Gary McErlain said the grant bore "little resemblance to the scale of loss and hardship endured by the fishing community".

The Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (Daera) said the scheme is a "concerted effort" to support fishermen and is comparable to assistance provided during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Payments from the scheme will be based on brown eels landed during the 2024 season with an eligibility criteria of at least £1000 worth.

Mr McErlain, who is also the chair of the Lough Neagh Partnership, appealed to the minister to re-examine it.

The statement from Daera said: "Minister Muir is more than willing to meet representatives of the fishing community to discuss further.

"In developing a financial assistance scheme the Department must act in line with legislation and Managing Public Money NI requirements."

Eel-fishing has run in generations of families around Lough Neagh.

Mr McErlain said that means it is “not simply an economic activity, but a way of life that has sustained families and communities for generations".

But the number of people involved in the industry has declined in recent years.

The catch is largely exported to the Netherlands and Germany for smoking.

Some of it also goes to England for jellied eel production.

But in May, the Lough Neagh Fishermen’s Co-operative said low fat content in this year’s catch meant it was not at the standard required by their usual customers and the season was paused before being abandoned.

The Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute said the "very limited sample" its scientists had been able to analyse showed nothing unusual.

Although he welcomed the support package "in principle", Mr McErlain said it had left people "with a lot of questions" given the pressures in Lough Neagh.

"It is extremely disappointing that the support package has been assessed on 2024 income at a time when the industry was already in severe trouble, with earnings at an all-time low."

He also questioned the choice of the 2024 season as a baseline.

"It ignores the fact that the livelihoods of fishermen had already been negatively impacted following the algal bloom of 2023."

He said the details of the package made him and his fellow fishermen feel the industry was "not being taken seriously".

While the cancellation of the season was unrelated to blue-green algae in Lough Neagh, Mr McErlain said the scale of the environmental crisis and its economic effects should be reflected.

He added that there was renewed concern about the future of the industry on the lough.

"There is a great danger of wiping out an entire fishing culture on Lough Neagh due to the ongoing environmental crisis. We would ask the minister to reconsider the level of grant being offered to the fishing industry in light of this ecological and financial catastrophe."