Mr. Dominic Rihan:

As Dr. Kelly said, on the economic side we do something similar to what is done on the biological stocks. We do an annual economic survey of the seafood sector and one indicator we look at is employment. Our survey looks back a year so it is retrospective and not forward looking. In the past few years, the employment situation has been remarkably stable. It is at 16,000-odd jobs. It has been at that level for the last couple of years. Other member states do similar economic surveys of their own. Again, it is a mixed picture. Some of the Baltic states which have had a very serious situation with cod stock have had a decline in the fishing industry. In the North Sea stocks have been relatively stable. Prior to this year and the current fuel crisis, countries such as the Netherlands and Belgium were in a fairly stable position. Spain and France have seen a decline in the past three to four years. That has also stabilised in the last couple of years, similar to our own position. It is a kind of mixed bag. It is not just Ireland which is feeling the pain and it is not just Ireland which is potentially impacted by the changes here. It is a mixed bag. What the projections will show next year in the context of the crisis we face now may show a completely different picture.