Become A Waterkeeper

Club and private waterkeepers perform a vital role in keeping waters free from pollution, netting and illegal angling. Section 294 of the Fisheries Consolidation Act 1959 establishes that any person may be appointed to be a Private Waterkeeper. Of course certain conditions must apply before such appointment can be rendered effective.

The first thing that you will need to do is to join a club or association for the waters you are interested in, the post of waterkeeper is legally open to non club members, however being a member of a recognised group will greatly increase your chances or being accepted to the position by your regional fisheries board.
If you are not a member then you could try and join right away and that should be fine, the reason you need to belong to a club is that the boards will require a letter of support from the club stating that you are a member and that they support your application, if you are only a new member then you should ring up the chairman and tell him that you are hoping to become a keeper to protect the club waters, most clubs will be happy to have a new keeper as most are well aware of the current problems with pollution and fish removal (there is a generalised example at the bottom of this document to show the form the support letter should take, it should be on headed club notepaper). 

Once you are a member and have a letter of support, you should write a letter to the CEO of your local board to apply (no harm sending a few to different members of the board to make sure they get one). In the letter state that you want to become a keeper, why you want to (I know a lot of people are aware that many foreign nationals have been implicated in illegal fishing but dont be race specific in any way) why you would be suitable, a brief CV type description of your background and try to include anything that will help your cause, include a copy of your support letter and the board should get back to you, you are legally entitled to a response. 

Do not phone, make sure its a letter, they will need it in writing. An example application letter is at the very bottom of this document.
Once you have been approved by the fisheries board, the CEO will inform you and will send you a letter of suitability, some duty information and an appointment letter which has to be filled out and signed by your club secretary or chairman. The final step in the process is to bring your appointment letter to your local district court judge to be signed. To do this you should make contact with the court clerk to inform them of your arrival and they will tell you the next day on which the court is sitting. You will then need to show up on the morning on the court sitting and make yourself known to the clerk. You will either be called by the judge to have your form signed in open court or else he may sign it in his chambers and return it to you, this is at the judges discretion. It might be no harm to bring a copy of the legislation below with you on the day. Once your letter of appointment is signed it becomes your warrant and you are now a certified officer of the court.
As a first step I would suggest getting back in touch with the fisheries board to let them know you are active and perhaps also contacting the local garda station, just to introduce yourself and make them aware of what you will be doing. The power given to a waterkeeper is set down in the fisheries consolidation act of 1959, which is below.

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