Mr. John Connolly:

I am a small fisherman from the west coast. We mostly fish oyster, lobster and so on. Lobster is an endangered species. There are no lobsters because there is too much overfishing, larger boats and more gear. The worst thing ever was the money given to fishermen last year to get lost or damaged gear back in the water. Most of those who received it were those who already had money, as people had to put so much in to get it.

Something should be done about the lobster season, such as reducing the number of pots to 200 per boat or starting in March and finishing in September. I am 62 years old and started fishing when I was ten years old. Connemara is full of oyster beds. In 1963, when I was ten years old, I saw the oysters and scallops dead in the bay because there was a heavy frost that year that killed everything. Before that, an old organisation that had a factory did a great deal of work on the banks, but since it went out of business, no money has been invested in the banks. We are discussing aquaculture, farming oysters and so on, but if there is too much farming, native oysters cannot be sold. This year, they were priced at only €4 per kilogram. They used to reach €6 or €7. Something must be done to control how many oysters are put on the market so that people who have fished native oysters for years can make a living out of it. The money is decreasing every year. No money is invested in oysters.

In terms of oyster hatcheries, spawn is not being put into the bay. People will fish for one or two weeks per year and clean out the stock. A great deal of money should be invested in hatcheries for lobsters, oysters, scallops and native shellfish. Fishing abalone was tried in my area but did not work. Fishing turbot was tried in my area but did not work. The first mussel farming happened in my area in the 1970s. They achieved £600 per tonne more than 30 years ago. Now, it is not even worth going out. In my area, mussels could not be harvested last year because of the bad weather. They spawn in March, April or May, so one cannot sell any caught then either.

The most important thing is that people who have been fishing for all of their years can always make a living from the sea. There should be investment in hatcheries for lobsters, oysters and so on.

Everyone is discussing seaweed. Arcadian Seaplants wants to come in from Scotland. In my area, everyone is discussing sea spaghetti and so on. Young lads are cutting it. I hope that people will do it the same way. Approximately two months ago, I saw a programme about the same thing happening in Scotland. They used to do it the same way - they cut it with knives and left 4 inches on the rocks - but large machinery came in and pulled the seaweed off the rocks, which meant that it would never regrow. I would not like to see the same happening in Ireland. I would like to see the healthy way we have done it for years continuing.