An Irish governmental body on Wednesday recommended a widespread ban on commercial salmon fishing in the country's seas, warning in a report that Ireland's renowned salmon stocks had suffered a "catastrophic decline".

The key conservation measure, in a report from the government-appointed Independent Salmon Group (ISG), is a complete ban on commercial driftnet fishing from January 1, 2007.

The advisory body also recommended a ban on angling in a number of the country's best known fishing rivers, including the Liffey, the Boyne and the Barrow, where stocks are "dangerously low".

The recommendations are currently being considered by ministers.

The ISG advocates offering a 30-million-euro (37.7-million-dollar) compensation buy-out package to 877 drift netfishermen, many of whom live in remote coastal areas where salmon netting has been a traditional job passed down from generation to generation.

For years, anglers and tourism bodies have been calling for measures to conserve salmon stocks but the issue is hugely politically sensitive, with the commercial fishermen battling to save their livelihood.

Ireland's tourism body Failte (Welcome) wants to development salmon angling into a 100-million-euro industry by 2009 involving tourists from Britain, France, Germany and the US.

But the report said: "We are now at a critical juncture in our efforts to halt the catastrophic decline of Irish salmon stocks."

"(Salmon) is under serious threat from a combination of over-exploitation, pollution, habitat degradation and poor water quality management.

"It is clear to us that a radical and comprehensive new management approach is now needed.

"The scientific advice is unequivocal that the ending of indiscriminate mixed stock fishing at sea and the restriction on angling in certain rivers are essential parts of a national strategy to arrest this decline."

The Atlantic Ocean salmon stock is under pressure in many countries.

It lays its eggs, or spawns, in freshwater rivers and streams and then migrates to sea before returning again. Fish may swim more than 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometres) back to their rivers of origin.

In Ireland, the report said, the number of migratory fish returning to the coast is estimated to be less than a third of what it was in the 1970s, its lowest for 35 years.

The European Commission's representative in Ireland, Martin Territt, welcomed the report.