Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

A meeting took place in Rosmuc last night. The fishermen went along thinking it would be about fishing, better equipment and better opportunities to fish, to find there was nothing about fishing. It was all about getting them out of fishing to do something else in rural development. I share the disgust of the fishermen that this is not where they want to be. Will there be a better deal to protect coastal zones from the major factory trawlers and ensure they are kept for coastal fishermen in smaller boats, for whom the sea has been a way of life and who, through various methods, have been progressively pushed out of the poly fishing in which they engaged, that is, a bit of this, a bit of that and a bit of the other, where they are all meant to specialise? Traditional coastal communities are decimated from an income and a fishing point of view.

As I said on another occasion when I was sitting beside a Kilkenny man, as someone was arguing about the unimportance of a way of life, if one took hurling sticks away from Kilkenny men, one would soon find out that maintaining a way of life is as important as making a profit. I know that Kilkenny men play hurling purely for the fun of it. It is important to recognise that for many people, agriculture and fishing are not all about the profits they make. I see accounts from fishermen and farmers. Many of them are not making much of a profit out of it, but they still do it because it is a part of their lives. A fair number of young people are still inheriting the traditions, skills and knowledge of the sea. They want to keep at it. In these discussions, it is absolutely vital for an enhanced area out from the coast to be preserved for these small-time fishermen.