DUBLIN (AFP) -- Ireland decided Wednesday to implement a total ban on commercial salmon fishing in the country's seas, despite opposition from fishermen, after a report warned stocks had suffered a "catastrophic decline".

Marine Minister Noel Dempsey said the wild salmon is one of Ireland's most prized fish that has been "instilled in our traditional mythology as the Bradan feasa (the salmon of knowledge), and valued as a cultural and economic resource".

The key recommendations from a government-appointed Independent Salmon Group (ISG) last month were a ban on driftnet fishing at sea from January 1 and a 30-million-euro (37.7-million-dollar) compensation and buy-out package for 877 drift net fishermen.

The ISG also recommended an angling ban in some of the country's most renowned fishing rivers where stocks have dropped below critical conservation levels.

"Expert scientific advice available shows marine survival of salmon in the North Atlantic has decreased significantly in the past decade," Dempsey said in a statement.

"Less than half to one third of the salmon returning to rivers in the 1970s and 1980s are currently returning to Irish rivers. "In this regard it is vital to afford every protection to the remaining stocks and to clearly prioritize conservation over catch."

Dempsey said the government realized the ban would mean difficulties for commercial fishermen and vulnerable coastal communities.

The hardship fund would give each fisherman a payment equal to six times their average annual catch over the period 2001-05, multiplied by the average price per salmon over the period.

Although the buy-out scheme is compulsory for drift-netters, other commercial salmon fishermen using draft-nets, loop-nets, bag-nets and snap-nets in estuaries and rivers can also sign up on a voluntary basis.

The ISG said that expert opinion in Britain also blamed Irish drift-netters for hitting stocks there.

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

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

Dempsey said the ban would mean that in the region of 68,000 salmon that might otherwise have been caught in drift nets will now get back to their birth rivers.