About
The Foyle Association of Salmon and Trout Anglers (FASTA) is the umbrella organisation representing community angling clubs and private fisheries across the Foyle river system. Our founding purpose was to secure the future of salmon and sea trout for the benefit of local communities and visitors alike, ensuring that this shared natural resource supports recreation, wellbeing, and the regional economy.
From the beginning, FASTA has championed sustainable management of the Foyle system, working to end harmful practices such as commercial netting and to promote responsible stewardship of our rivers. Today, our remit has evolved to address a wider range of environmental pressures, including pollution, habitat loss, changing land use, and water management challenges.
We work in partnership with angling clubs, landowners, statutory agencies and local authorities to develop practical, evidence-based solutions that protect and enhance fish populations and river health. Our focus is on collaboration, problem solving and shared responsibility, ensuring that environmental policy, enforcement and restoration efforts deliver real benefits for both people and nature.
FASTA believes that through open dialogue and coordinated action, the Foyle system can once again become a thriving, self-sustaining habitat where salmon, sea trout and other species flourish, and where angling continues to enrich communities on both sides of the border.
Who we are
Chairman
Francis Curran
Francis Curran is Chairman of FASTA and one of its founding members.
He has been Honorary Secretary and Treasurer of the Finn Angling Club in Donegal for over thirty years, as well as serving as Chair of FASTA for the same period. A former Senior Lecturer at a Further Education College, Francis believes, as does FASTA, that a viable, well-managed angling resource is vital to the regeneration of a region that has faced challenges in the past but holds massive potential in this sector.
Treasurer
Mark Gough
Mark was born in Sion Mills and has had the pleasure of fishing the Mourne and its tributaries for the past sixty years. He is a member of several angling clubs and private beats and has been a staunch member of FASTA since the late 1990s. Mark currently serves as Treasurer of the Association.
Secretary
David Nelson
Born in Newbuildings, David has been fly fishing for salmon, sea trout, and brown trout since his youth on all the river tributaries of the River and Lough Foyle system. He is, or has been, a member of all the community angling clubs on the Foyle system, including a number of private fisheries. David has undertaken the role of Secretary for FASTA for the past ten years.
Members
Our representation has been on matters of mutual and strategic interest that affect game angling in the North West of Northern Ireland and County Donegal. Our affiliates include community-based angling clubs and private fisheries on the River and Lough Foyle system.
Community Angling Clubs:
- Omagh Anglers
- Sion Mills Anglers
- GAFF Anglers
- Ardstraw Anglers
- Finn Anglers
- Dennett Anglers
- Derg Valley Community Angling Club
- River Roe Angling Ltd
- Strabane and Lifford Anglers
Private Fisheries:
- Abercorn Estates
- Brookborough Estates
- Glenmore Estate
- Cloghan Fishery
- Killygordon Anglers
- Mulvin Fishery
- Fedon Fisheries
- Beattie’s Fishery
- Carrickmore Anglers Limavady
- Strabane Angling Association
- Beltrim Estates
In terms of individual anglers, this represents around 4,000 people. Some anglers enjoy membership in multiple clubs, with each club and fishery operating under its own rules and constitution.
We co-operate fully with the present statutory management, the cross-border body, the Foyle, Carlingford and Irish Lights Commissions Loughs Agency, which was set up by the two governments. We also co-operate fully with all other bodies in the area which represent angling interests and have been to the fore in all campaigns designed to improve the anglers lot, particularly that which has led to at least a reduction in the problem of commercial netting.
