It was with great sadness that we learned of the untimely passing of Dr Paddy Boylan, one of the salmon world’s most talented biologists.
Paddy worked very closely with the Atlantic Salmon Trust team over many years, more recently as one of the main driving forces behind the hugely ambitious and successful Sea Monitor Programme. Paddy was also responsible for the design and implementation of the IBIS Project, which secured funding of £6 million in 2010 from the European Union. That project was also an enormously ambitious scientific undertaking, which resulted in 15 successful PhD projects and 33 Masters’ projects. This initiative launched the careers of dozens of gifted young scientists, many of whom are now working with the Atlantic Salmon Trust’s research partners. The IBIS/Atlantic Salmon Trust Stocking Workshop in Glasgow in 2013, which Paddy helped plan and organise, is seen by many as a benchmark in the understanding of salmon stocking in Great Britain and Ireland. He was a key member of Inland Fisheries Ireland’s Technical Expert Group on Salmon, from its inception in 2000 to 2021, which established the scientific basis for the management of salmon in Ireland.
Paddy was passionately committed to his wife Jane, who sadly passed away just over two years ago, and to his children, Jamie and Emma. We extend our deepest sympathy to Jamie, Emma, his mother Rita and the extended Boylan family. Paddy’s contribution to the salmon world was truly significant, as was his friendship, which we were so fortunate to share.