Mrs. Sharon McMahon:

I will start with the Acting Chairman's question on legislation. The Acting Chairman and other members of the committee have raised some relevant and in-depth questions on which we are working. To understand how we operate it is necessary to understand our legislation. While one might think that legislation from 1952 is dated, it has worked for 65 years. It was very forward-thinking at the time that the two Governments could sit down and come up with an organisation, the Foyle Fisheries Commission, to manage Lough Foyle, which was quite challenging at the time. While our legislation is dated, we constantly update it through by-laws. We work with the Attorney General in the South and with the Departmental Solicitor's Office in the North. Our legislation was further strengthened by the Good Friday Agreement, which conferred other functions on the agency that made us even stronger.

I do not see our legislation as negative. I see it as very positive. For example, we can prosecute cross-Border for an offence that has taken place in Lifford on the River Finn where the offender is domiciled in Strabane. We can prosecute him in Strabane even though the offence occurred in Ireland. We have had that unique legislation for 65 years. It has worked through the Troubles and still works very well today. It was very forward-thinking at the time and is amazing legislation, if one takes the time to look at it. We operate every day cross-Border; it is what we do. We are not naïve; we realise there will be challenges but we truly believe in our legislation. It has stood the test of time and we believe it will stand the test of time even after Brexit.

I will also address the question on the Good Friday Agreement. The Agreement conferred other functions on the agency, including the development of marine tourism and angling. The Agreement leaves us in a very strong position. We can be that vehicle to strengthen this even further in the Border corridors. If we have the funding from both Governments and the support, we could do much more work on the Border corridors.

We are funded on a 50:50 basis through grant-in-aid from the two Governments. That has been the case since 1952 and we have always been funded. We bid for our money like any other Government agency and we get it on a 50:50 basis. The EU funding will be a considerable loss to us. Our current headquarters was built using EU money. The IBIS project I mentioned and several other infrastructure projects used EU money. We are now looking at other streams of funding, including the heritage lottery fund in the UK. We are working with other local government agencies, such as councils, to develop projects. That is not just in the tourism industry but also in the field of science in which we work. We are positive. We realise there will be challenges but we are continually looking at contingency plans and a way forward for the agency.

To revert to the legislation, poachers and polluters do not recognise any borders. That was seen in 1952 and Brexit will not stop that in the future. The two Governments have worked together. The co-operation that existed in 1952 continues today in our day-to-day operations. We have quite a close relationship with the two Departments, North and South, based on the two sets of governance we work to and our statutory obligations. We work with two Governments, the two sponsoring Departments and the North-South Ministerial Council to deliver our daily operations. Working cross-Border is second nature. We see the Good Friday Agreement as only going from strength to strength after Brexit. However, we will continually plan for the future.

I will ask Mr. Fox, our director of aquaculture and shellfisheries, and Dr. Boylan to answer the questions on environmental law and monitoring.