Mr. Paschal Hayes:

I again stress that the control plan stays in place for all the other landings. The ridiculous situation that pertained in Union Hall last summer where fish had to be weighed on the quayside and then brought 500 m to the factory up the road will not happen this year because the control plan stays in place. Regarding the dire situation, I will point out that Killybegs continued to operate through this period and there were many landings in Killybegs throughout the pelagic season this year. I can give the Deputy statistics about them if he wishes.

Regarding fishmeal, the Deputy is right to point out that a lot more blue whiting has gone for human consumption this year and last year. In years past, the bulk of blue whiting used to go for fishmeal. It is welcome to see value being added to this fish and that it is going for human consumption rather than fishmeal. With regard to landings of blue whiting, the catch of 19 out of 20 vessels that land there goes straight to the factory for weighing so the Deputy must take this into account when he describes the situation as dire. The catch of only one out of 20 vessels has to be supervised and weighed on the pier side. What the sector has chosen to do in respect of blue whiting since the requirement came in and the two options became available was divert all the landings that we declared controlled landings into fishmeal. It has taken that option rather than using either of the two options for pier side weighing and having this fish used for human consumption. I hope we can avoid this situation going forward because the more of this fish that is used for human consumption, the better. Deputy Pringle referred to the extra value to the fishermen if it goes into human consumption. I agree with that. It is much better to see it going for human consumption than for fishmeal. Decommissioning is a question for the Minister. It is not something we would comment on given the role of the SFPA.