John Mulcahy was an Irish-American businessman who retired to his native Ireland after amassing a fortune from his business endeavours in the United States.

Shocked by the mismanagement and unconcern for the Atlantic salmon among his countrymen, Mr. Mulcahy set out to do something about it. When a famous pool on the Blackwater River was ravaged by netters, John Mulcahy undertook to buy out the netters rights, allowing thousands of salmon to ascend to spawning grounds up river. When the dreaded "Irish Salmon Disease" threatened to decimate Atlantic salmon in many famed rivers around Waterville, he introduced and paid for the most extensive re-stocking program ever seen in Ireland. When indiscriminate drift netting wrought havoc on returning salmon, John Mulcahy launched a public information campaign to halt the slaughter.

John Mulcahy's initiatives in Ireland resulted in a dramatic upsurge in public interest in the Atlantic salmon.