New data shows Sea bass, Dogfish, Whiting were top 3 species sea anglers reported catching in 2025

Sea bass, dogfish, and whiting were the top three species that sea anglers reported catching in 2025, according to new data from Inland Fisheries Ireland(IFI).

The data is taken from IFI’s interactive Irish Marine Recreational Angling Survey (IMREC) website, which enables anglers to log their catch details on their phones as they fish.

Mackerel, flounder, pollack, ballan wrasse, coalfish, pouting and thornback ray were also among the top 10 species that sea anglers most commonly-reported catching last year.

Other findings from participating Irish shore and boat anglers – fishing along more than 5,500 km of coastline – showed that in 2025:

• Counties Donegal, Sligo and Galway were hotspots for marine angling;
• Each angler spent an average of 64 hours fishing at or by the sea in 2025;
• On average, anglers caught more than three fish on each trip;
• The catch-and-release rate was over 90%.

Commenting on the 2025 figures Dr Diarmuid Ryan, Research Officer with IFI said: "We are very grateful to the community of anglers who consistently submit their catch data to IMREC. 

"We invite more anglers to become citizen scientists by using our free, easy-to-use, and anonymous, online angling diary

"By logging fishing sessions, they provide critical data to a European-wide project monitoring marine fish stocks. 

"And angler contributions are critical in helping IFI to study and maintain Ireland’s rich marine life resources." 

Using the online diary, anglers can easily log catch numbers, attach photos of catches, note the tide and bait used, and look back over previous sessions on their own interactive map.

The IMREC catch diary is a web-based log accessed through an online browser, available here. 

A summary of 2025 IMREC diary catch data can be found here.

The 10 fish species sea anglers most commonly-reported catching in 2025, according to IMREC data were:

• Sea bass
• Dogfish 
• Whiting
• Mackerel 
• Flounder 
• Pollack 
• Ballan wrasse
• Coalfish
• Pouting
• Thornback ray