Patsy Peril – a Limerick netsman’s fight to save the salmon

This week it’s a book club episode with Patsy Peril, who co-wrote (with Deirdre Nuttall) ‘Swimming Upstream: one man’s fight to save the Atlantic salmon’.

It’s a fascinating memoir about the life of a netsman on the River Shannon.  Patsy talks to us about the importance of the salmon to the communities and villages along the Shannon and how the building of Ardnacrusha decimated a way of life for so many.

He talks about his work as a netsman and the increasingly difficult years, dealing with industrialisation, pollution, salmon farms and overfishing which led to the decline of salmon numbers before his eyes.

But he also details his efforts to fight for the salmon and a friendship with the lifelong wild salmon campaigner, Orri Vigfússon, that developed along the way.

‘Swimming Upstream: one man’s fight to save the Atlantic salmon’ is available in all good bookshops.

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