The Dun na Salar, the fisheries protection vessel, was launched in May 2004 by the then Culture, Arts and Leisure Minister Angela Smith MP:
"Salmon stocks across the North Atlantic are at dangerously low levels and are under great pressure and it is essential to help ensure that returning salmon can reach river catchments to spawn.
"That is why offshore enforcement of legislation to protect and conserve these stocks is essential and this new vessel will play a vital role in that work. It will also support existing conservation measures being taken including my Department’s buyout of commercial salmon nets and the Fisheries Conservancy Board’s salmon management plan."
The FCB Chief Executive was skippering the £150,000 craft when it ran aground off the Antrim Coast just two months later.
