This year the IFM will be in the historic city of Belfast for their 48th Annual Conference. This event is hosted by their Ireland Branch and will be held at the Hilton Belfast on the banks of the River Lagan. The branch has put together a fantastic programme of talks that incorporates sessions from both the freshwater and marine environments.
Conference sessions will cover a wide range of topics over three days including:
- Tagging and Telemetry
- Catchment Impacts
- Environmental Change
- Lake Fishery Management
- Transitional Waters
- Evidence
As part of the conference there will be two special field trips. The first of these will be to the Lough Neagh fisheries Co-Operative. At almost 400km2 in surface area, Lough Neagh is the largest Lake in the British Isles, and is home to commercial fisheries for eel, perch, pollan, trout, bream and roach.
The second field trip will be a tour of Strangford Lough. Strangford Lough is an internationally important wetland and sea lough. It was northern Ireland's fish Marine Conservation Zone and is a Special Area of Conservation and Special Protection Area. It has one of the strongest tidal races in the world with the tide exchanging through the narrows between the villages of Portaferry and Strangford.
We will also be holding the Annual Dinner on the Tuesday evening. This will be held in the stunning Belfast Harbour Masters Office. As always this will be an evening not to be missed.
On the wednesday evening there will be a poster and film evening at the Hilton Hotel.
For further details on the conference programme and to register please click here.