Dr. Alyne Elizabeth Delaney:

In general, as an anthropologist and as someone interested in society, I would say "Yes". We should think about why we are making policies and what the point is. We hope that one main reason for making certain policies is to support our constituents and society. I have worked with biological scientists in this area. There is a derogation on a fishing ban in the Baltic Sea. They said this would help the small-scale fishers, but what about the three trawlers? Is it really fair and equitable to them? This also touches on the issue of equity. One needs to consider historical equity as well. Some people might argue that one is emphasising one group over another and that might be the case but perhaps one could argue that a given group has been legislated against historically. In some cases one might be trying to rectify a situation by brining everyone up to an equal level. If I had to say "Yes" or "No", I would say "Yes".

There was a question about the Common Fisheries Policy and the Common Agricultural Policy. There are rather interesting and different rights issues between agriculture and the fisheries and the policies have developed differently because of that. I am not best qualified to comment on the two but there is a reason they have gone differently. Given the limited knowledge I have I believe it would be difficult to treat them in the same way but perhaps there are others with a more enlightened view or a better background. There was another question about compensation for agriculture and whether there should be compensation for fisheries as well. In many parts of the world they do compensate. If it is a part of a broader policy, depending on what one is trying to do, then why not consider it? It has been done. What would compensation entail? It may be a way to help people to innovate or to move into other areas. Oftentimes there is an argument to the effect that in compensating a given group they will simply take it back and re-invest it. For example, if the compensation is invested in technologies which are more selective then it is not necessarily a bad thing to re-invest. We should consider what the goals are but compensation has been helpful in many arenas.

Senator Ó Domhnaill also asked about a centralised fund for upgrading small-scale fisheries. I touched upon that in some ways.

There are also many safety issues involved, especially with the older fleets.

Deputy Ferris is not here so I will reply to Deputy Pringle. Dr. Hynes might have a better view of the island communities, although I focus more on the social aspect. I have not done a formal study of this and I have not been back to the communities for a couple of years. I could not give a formal scientific response to that.