{"id":414726,"date":"2026-04-24T06:11:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T06:11:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/414726\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T06:11:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T06:11:14","slug":"killybegs-man-convicted-over-salmon-netting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/414726\/","title":{"rendered":"Killybegs man convicted over salmon netting"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A Killybegs man has been given a two-month suspended jail sentence for illegal salmon netting at sea.<\/p>\n<p>The case of Gerard McGuinness of Largymore, Killybegs, was before Glenties District Court in March, accused of using a wetsuit and snorkel set to swim out to sea and remove three Atlantic salmon from a fixed net.<\/p>\n<p>On June 19th, 2025, McGuinness was observed at 6am by IFI fisheries officers who were carrying out surveillance along Donegal Bay.<\/p>\n<p>IFI staff apprehended McGuinness and he had three salmon in his possession.<\/p>\n<p>Fisheries officers engaged with McGuinness, who was co-operative and apologetic, and complied with instructions of IFI officers.<\/p>\n<p>The net was seized along with the wetsuit, mask, and other paraphernalia.<\/p>\n<p>At a court sitting on 25th March 2026, McGuinness was given a two-month custodial sentence suspended for two years and instructed to pay \u20ac713 in costs.<\/p>\n<p>Commenting, Dr Milton Matthews Director of IFI&#8217;s North-Western region said: \u201cI commend the work of the protection team in securing this prosecution.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-sans font-semibold text-xl md:text-[30px] leading-9 text-primary w-full\">\n        You may also be interested in\n    <\/p>\n<p>            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.donegaldaily.com\/courts\/clonmany-man-in-court-on-charge-of-careless-driving-causing-death-631402\" class=\"block w-2\/5 shrink-0\" aria-label=\"Clonmany man in court on charge of careless driving causing death\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>        <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/clonmany-man-in-court-on-charge-of-careless-driving-causing-death.jpg\" class=\"max-w-full w-full h-full object-contain relative z-10\" width=\"150\" height=\"84\"  alt=\"Clonmany man in court on charge of careless driving causing death\" \/><\/p>\n<p>            <\/a><\/p>\n<p>            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.donegaldaily.com\/news\/firefighters-tackling-clonmany-gorse-blaze-631399\" class=\"block w-2\/5 shrink-0\" aria-label=\"Firefighters tackling Clonmany gorse blaze\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>        <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/firefighters-tackling-clonmany-gorse-blaze.jpeg\" class=\"max-w-full w-full h-full object-contain relative z-10\" width=\"150\" height=\"84\"  alt=\"Firefighters tackling Clonmany gorse blaze\" \/><\/p>\n<p>            <\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This verdict sends out a clear message that those who engage in illegal netting of salmon can potentially face imprisonment.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Wild Atlantic salmon are under considerable pressure from a range of environmental impacts. Illegal activities such as setting fixed nets or drift netting for salmon impacts on remaining spawning numbers and will not be tolerated by IFI.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Killybegs man has been given a two-month suspended jail sentence for illegal salmon netting at sea. The&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":414727,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-414726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=414726"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414726\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/414727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=414726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=414726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=414726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}