Lough Neagh is home to the largest wild eel fishery in Europe and is also home to several species of wild freshwater fish including pollan, dollaghan (Lough Neagh trout) and perch. Traditional, sustainable fishing methods are used on the lough, which have passed down through the generations. It’s about preserving a way of life, protecting the fish and safeguarding a viable commercial fishery.

Lough Neagh Eels are rightly famous. They were awarded EU Protected Name status in 2011, the first product from Northern Ireland to receive the accreditation. These tenacious creatures make their way from the Sargasso Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, carried over 6,000km on the Gulf Stream to the mouth of the Lower Bann, and then into Lough Neagh where they stay for 12 to 20 years before returning home to the Sargasso Sea to spawn. Lough Neagh Pollan has also been awarded EU Protected Name status in 2018, setting the lough apart as home to not one, but two high quality wild-caught fish bearing these prestigious EU accreditations.

On prearranged guided tours of the site, visitors are enthralled by the mythical tales that surround Lough Neagh, amazed at the epic migration journeys of Lough Neagh Eel and regaled by the stories of the tradition of fishing on Lough Neagh.  To book a visit, use the link https://www.loughneagheels.com/tours/