Loughs Agency investigations into illegal, pre-season, fishing activities for native oysters in Lough Foyle, have resulted in the seizure of a significant quantity of oysters. Bags of illegally fished oysters were seized on Monday 8th October, the day before the Lough Foyle Native Oyster Fishery was scheduled to open. The…
Last week, Fishery Officers from Loughs Agency seized an illegal net from the River Foyle in which an adult female Atlantic Salmon had been captured. The salmon was a 5kg (11lbs) female fish and was carrying a significant number of eggs. Atlantic Salmon are at present undergoing changes…
This week 32 young people graduated on the Loughs Agency ‘Foyle Ambassador’ Programme. The aim of the Foyle Ambassadors programme is to discover the social, economic and environmental importance of the River Foyle, from source to sea, while at the same time providing young people with opportunities to engage and…
DECLARATION THE FOYLE AREA (CONTROL OF OYSTER FISHING) REGULATIONS 2008 SUSPENSION OF OYSTER FISHING IN THE FOYLE AREA I, Sharon McMahon, Designated Officer of the Loughs Agency, Foyle Carlingford and Irish Lights Commission, hereby certify that The Commission is satisfied that it is necessary and expedient for…
Loughs Agency are delighted to announce the results of the XVIII Commonwealth Fly-Fishing Championships 2018, which took place in Omagh, Northern Ireland. This competition was organised by the Trout Angling Federation of Ireland and supported by Fermanagh & Omagh District Council, DAERA Inland Fisheries and Loughs Agency.
Loughs Agency are pleased to announce that Northern Ireland is hosting the XVIII Commonwealth Fly-Fishing Championships 2018. The competition has been organised by the Trout Anglers Federation of Ireland is supported by Fermanagh & Omagh District Council, Loughs Agency and DAERA Inland Fisheries. The visiting teams represent England (men and…
Over the last week Loughs Agency Fishery Officers have seized 5 nets which were illegally operating across the Foyle Area. Two of these nets were discovered with adult Atlantic salmon illegally caught in them. The illegal nets were seized across a range of rivers in the Foyle Area, highlighting the…
Loughs Agency are delighted to be a strategic partner with Derry City and Strabane District Council for the Foyle Maritime Festival. Loughs Agency along with our delivery partners are offering the public a wide range of activities and spectacles on the water from Canoeing to Yoga on Stand-Up Paddleboards. …
The Foyle Ambassador programme is a FREE summer scheme aimed at 14-17 year olds from the Foyle area who are interested in the natural environment. The programme will run for 6 weeks starting 23rd July through to the end of August. There will be two groups of…
Loughs Agency were delighted to welcome Sean Kyne TD to Loughs Agency recently. Mr Kyne is the Minister of State for the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment who are a joint sponsor of Loughs Agency. During his visit to the Agency, Minister Kyne learned about the Loughs Agency…
On Wednesday 23rd May, Loughs Agency received a call about a pollution incident on the Owenreagh River near Dromore, Co Tyrone. Loughs Agency staff have located the source and the discharge has now been stopped. Loughs Agency have deployed aeration equipment in order to re-oxygenate water. Where the Camowen River…
On Wednesday 23rd May, Loughs Agency received a call about a pollution incident on the Owenreagh River near Dromore, Co Tyrone. Agency staff located the source and are investigating the incident. Statutory samples…
Interested parties are invited to apply for a licence to fish the 2018/2019 Native Oyster fishery. Applicants will be required to submit a completed application form and supporting documentation to the address listed below. All applications must be delivered in person by the applicant. Application forms are available for download…
This Sunday marks the opening of three excellent game fishing rivers in the Foyle system. The Dennett, Faughan and Roe. The Dennett The Dennett is a medium sized spate river, running off the Sperrin mountains, dropping through Donemana and then swinging west through woodland and pasture to…
This is a final reminder to anglers to log their fishing effort, catches and releases in the Foyle and Carlingford areas for the 2017 season. Last year 7,432 licences were purchased and to date only 10% of anglers have made a catch return. Catch returns are a condition of purchasing…
In recent weeks the Agency has been undertaking netting and electrofishing operations in order to remove escaped rainbow trout from the Foyle river system at a number of targeted locations. There has been a noticeable decline in the numbers of rainbow trout recaptured over this period. As…
In the months since the flooding event, Loughs Agency has been conducting electrofishing, netting and rod based surveys as a method of recovering escaped rainbow trout and also to monitor their distribution and abundance. As part of this ongoing operation, today during a netting and electrofishing exercise at Sion Mills,…
After the devastating floods in August 2017, official figures have quoted an estimated 387,000 rainbow trout escaped from a fish farm in Newtownstewart into the River Strule. At that time, Loughs Agency carried out an initial assessment of the damage caused to the fishery habitat and raised concerns with the…
The Loughs Agency today announced it will receive £500,000 of funding from the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) to carry out remedial works during 2018 on four river catchments affected by the flooding in August 2017. The work will include redirecting watercourses back to the main river…
Following the Government’s advice in relation to COVID-19, Loughs Agency has put in place a number of measures to maximise our capacity to continue to deliver our
services as best we can.