No fish

[tim1cassidy]

Ive been going crazy that I cant get out in my yak with a bad shoulder at the mo but was worse that I havnt been able to read many reports from you guys and then i came accross this link on the rosguill. http://www.rosguill.com/category/fishing-news/

Looks like I haven't been missing a whole lot. Is there any fish out there, i was gonna try from the rocks in sheephaven bay this weekend if i get a chance to get across but by the sounds of it there is no point. How is everyone else getting on fishing in donegal at the moment??

[septicsac]

Seen the report from Rosguill last week, depressing reading , especially when from a skipper who people regard as someone who knows his stuff. Graham was doing well enough from the yak a few weeks ago.

[septicsac]

Update from the "lack of fish in Donegal"

"The mystery has been solved – a massive phytoplankton bloom. (Red tide) These blooms simply exhaust all the oxygen from the water making fish lethargic. It happened once before here about 8 years ago, but not as severe as this one. Was offshore 20 miles today – water was same colour as in a lake after heavy rain – pure brown.

Also received an e-mail from an angler fishing locally: -

I saw your depressing website update.
Same problem in Sheephaven….3 days without a mackeral and certainly nothing more glamorous.
It appears to be an Algae Bloom (Red Tide) uncommon but not unheard of here.
Prolonged calm weather and early May/June sun ideal conditions to start it off.
Dead heart sea urchins, lug worm and shore crab a sure sign.
A lot of dead lug worm in the estuary at Ards as well as cockles.
Hundreds of dead heart sea urchins all around sheephaven beaches.Shore crabs and small flat fish obviously distressed in rock pools at Marblehill.

I am told it will pass sooner rather than later but can’t find out when the fish will return.
It is a pity as fishing started so well.
Just returned from Horn Head and surrounds …still no mackerel bur definite signs of clearer water both to look at and on the depth sounder…fingers crossed for improvement."

Info here http://www.rosguill.com/category/fishing-news/

[a1fisher]

The last 2 been tough with not much happenig and the macks went very quiet but there was a great sign of fish in kinageo bay beside me the other night heaps of mackeral and a good show sea trout. I didn't put up a report as it was as much a mack bashing session as anything. The freezer is getting low.

[septicsac]

Another update
"Just released by the Irish Marine Institute – http://www.marine.ie/home/aboutus/newsr ... thWest.htm
Exceptional Algal Bloom detected in North West
Seawater samples submitted to Marine Institute in the past few weeks have shown the presence of a species of Phytoplankton that can harm marine animals, and some mortality have been reported among oysters, cockles and lugworms from the Mayo to Donegal coastal regions.

Analysis carried out at the Marine Institute phytoplankton lab has indicated that there is an ongoing bloom in the area of Karenia mikimotoi which is a phytoplankton of the dinoflagellate group that produces dense blooms and often results in similar mortality of marine organisms. The bloom is most likely to originate offshore and several previous occurrences of this species have been recorded in Ireland over the years, most significantly the bloom in 2005 which extended all along the west coast. That bloom lasted through the months of June and July and resulted in extensive mortalities of wild intertidal and sub-tidal invertebrates and fish. There were also reports of losses of farmed shellfish in west coast at that time.

“The species of phytoplankton that is causing this unusual mortality is quite common in the summer months around the coast of Ireland. The species can cause mortalities in shellfish and finfish because it contains a toxic irritant that results in damage to the gills of shellfish, fish and invertebrates. This, coupled with reduced oxygen levels during the decaying bloom can result in extensive mortalities over large areas of the coastline, as we reported during the 2005 event,” explained to Mr. Joe Silke of the Marine Institute Phytoplankton and Biotoxin Unit.

The current bloom has shown moderate levels between half a million cells to 1.5 million cells per litre in the Donegal bay area. A second bloom is also evident from satellite images in the Belmullet to Clew Bay area where reports of dead shellfish and lugworms have been reported by the public. Lower levels have been observed along the Galway and North Clare coast and also in Kenmare, Bantry and Dunmanus Bays.

“These blooms are part of the natural cycle of phytoplankton in the sea, and originate offshore. As they are pushed to the coast by oceanic and tidal currents they accumulate to dense levels that can even discolour the seawater in what are often called ‘Red Tide’ events. Just as certain land plants contain toxins and irritants, so do marine algae and the accumulation of these coastal blooms are not associated with pollution or any man induced activity,” said Mr Silke.

The duration of the current bloom is difficult to predict, it may subside quickly to be replaced by the more typical mixed summer algal community, or it may continue over the next month or so as was the case in 2005. The Marine Institute are continuing to monitor samples from the region and all results are on the website immediately after analysis on www.marine.ie/habs ."

[Mike Barrie]

Done a post on this matter spotted this one so deleteted my post ,just yesterday Maurice was with me and we were talking to a guy we know he was fishing donegal just over a week ago they had been getting plenty of tope this year but the last trip zero .What he did say was he filled a reel with new light coloured braid by the end of the day it was brown and is now discoloured also noticed different colours from diffrent depths this is the algae bloom dying.So I would suggest the lack of tope and Porgies at the moment is because these fish have no tolerance to this Algae bloom as it passes through their gills hence they have moved offshore as the map showed swilly has a big RED area god knows when it will clear up there.

[congereel]

We have just returned from a trip on the swilly which turned out to be almost the worst ever only beaten by last week which WAS the worst ever we just about saved a blank with a thornback and a gurnard the size of a goldfish,even the dogs seem to have fecked off .Hope this stuff dissapears if thats whats causing the problem.

[tim1cassidy]

wow thats crazy, mother nature is mad. it better clear off soon because im dying to get up at the end of the month.

[septicsac]

Hopefully it does not affect the porgies to much

[rooster76]

We have just returned from a trip on the swilly which turned out to be almost the worst ever only beaten by last week which WAS the worst ever we just about saved a blank with a thornback and a gurnard the size of a goldfish,even the dogs seem to have fecked off .Hope this stuff dissapears if thats whats causing the problem.

Two bad weeks on the swilly and guess who was missing?????????? mmmmmmm
On a serious note,fishing has been terrible and hopefully it clears soon

[PENN INTERNATIONAL]

Mulroy the same - no fish

[paulbryson75]

been watching this with great interest - everyone i have spoken to who has tried the last two weeks in/off/around the Swilly is saying the same thing NO fish. Deadly serious!

[congereel]

We were out on saturday,fished for six hours and were rewarded with three macs for our efforts.Think i'm going to dust off the fly rod again

[paulbryson75]

makes for depressing reading
[quoteUpdate on North West Algal Bloom

The bloom that has been affecting areas of the North West from Mayo to Donegal and at lower concentrations down along the rest of the West coast continues to impact on coastal marine life in several areas.

Mr Joe Silke of the Marine Institute stated today “The bloom that reported by the Marine Institute in the North West over the past two weeks, has shown some signs of increase along the west coast in the past few days. We started to detect low levels of it in the water from late May, but in the past two weeks it developed into a dense bloom in parts of the north-western counties from the Mayo to Donegal area.

In the past week high levels have been detected in Galway Bay, but no mortalities have so far been reported in this region. In Donegal the bloom was so dense that there were many reports of discoloured red or brown water in some areas and several areas have reported dead marine life washing up on the shoreline requiring Local Authorities to close certain beaches.”

This is a one of several microscopic algae that occur naturally in coastal waters, this particular one is called Karenia mikimotoi. Dead fish on Rossnowlagh Beach Photo:Paddy Ennis While the algae is not harmful to humans it did result in large numbers of dead fish including turbot, flounder, scorpion fish and shore rockling in Inner Donegal Bay. Other dead species were worm pipefish, lesser weavers, grey gurnard, shanny, sand goby, pollock, sole, plaice, flounder and dabs which have been washing up on Rossnowlagh and Murvagh beaches and earlier this week red flags were raised. The Local Authorities took the decision to close both beaches in response to large numbers of dead fish but these restrictions have been lifted on Tuesday. The situation is being closely monitored by the Marine Institute and Donegal County Council who are both keeping the public informed as the situation progresses on their websites. Mortalities of marine organisms have also been reported from the Sligo and Mayo coastal regions.

Local sea anglers have reported low fish catches along the Donegal coast, and in some areas a complete absence of any fish. This is due to the bloom which fish will avoid when they can. Lobster and Prawn fishermen have also reported very poor catches in the Donegal area. Oyster farms in Donegal also were reported to have suffered losses of up to 80% of stocks in some areas.

Mr Silke explained “The bloom affects species that live on or near the sea bed so we are seeing flatfish, lugworms and some shellfish getting washed up on the beaches. It is a natural bloom which we have seen it to occur in several places over the years. It is believed that it originates offshore as a natural part of its summer life cycle, and gets concentrated up against the coast with tidal and coastal currents.”

Some indications that the bloom may be moving back out to sea were observed in the latest satellite images and modelling data, however cell counts of samples analysed in the Marine Institute today show that the bloom is still of the same density in the Donegal and Sligo regions as it was last week, but increased levels were reported in Galway Bay.

The Marine Institute’s monitoring programme will continue to sample and monitor the bloom and post updates on our website at marine.ie and on local radio.

][/quote]

[big c]

its all a bit depressing paul. lets hope and pray it drifts out into the atlantic quickly.