Swimming Upstream: One man's fight to save the Atlantic wild salmon
By (Author) Patsy Peril
By (author) Deirdre Nuttall
O'Brien Press Ltd
O'Brien Press Ltd
1st February 2025
21st October 2024
Ireland
General
Non Fiction
Fishing, angling
Conservation of the environment
333.95656
Hardback
248
Width 155mm, Height 226mm, Spine 24mm
572g
Unlike me, the Atlantic wild salmon does not have a voice, so it cannot tell the story of why and how it has been driven to the point of extinction.
Once, the River Shannon was teeming with wild salmon swimming upstream. But when the enormous hydro-electric station at Ardnacrusha was built in 1929, what began as the Free States crowning achievement would have a devastating impact on the environment.
In this evocative and thought-provoking memoir, Patsy Peril recalls a life deeply entwined with Irish wildlifeand embedded in the history of modern Ireland.From a childhood spent on the water to a national conservation campaign, Patsy has a lifetime of knowledge to share about the wild Atlantic salmon and a plan to save it.
superb book by Patsy Peril about the fate of the salmon & the ecological disaster that is ardnacrusha
-- Ella McSweeneyIt weaves ecological, personal, social, even national, history SO engagingly
-- Eoghan DaltunPatsy Peril grew up in the fishing community of Coonagh, on the outskirts of Limerick City. Involved in inland fisheries all his life, he is also an experienced light aircraft pilot. He has been deeply concerned with environmental matters since childhood, in particular concerning the health and future of Irish rivers. For decades, he has been involved in organisations involved with the oversight, protection, reclamation and sustainability of our natural environment, as well as both local and national salmon net fishers associations. Patsy continues his activism, striving for a time when our natural waterways are respected and cared for, and for a healthy and sustainable balance between the uses of our environment and its wellbeing. A frequent contributor to meetings, conferences and congresses, Patsy is now ready to bring his crucial message to a general readership. Deirdre Nuttall has over twenty years experience of interview-led collaborative writing projects in the areas of memoir, biography, academic writing and popular non-fiction. Deirdre holds a PhD in ethnology and a masters degree in Social Anthropology, with expertise in narrative, oral history and the ethnology of symbolic thought and practice.