Dr. Cecil Beamish:

I would very much like to respond. We should try to be factual. I am not aware of any reviews of the licensing process during the period in which it all changed, which was after the European Court of Justice judgment in 2007. I am fully aware of the Cawley report, which was not a review of the aquaculture licensing process but on how to develop the seafood sector. It made a range of recommendations on issues in 2006 under Noel Cawley's chairmanship, and many of them have been implemented. It was a development report on how to develop the seafood industry and how to drive value.

Food Harvest 2020, Food Wise 2025 and the National Plan for Sustainable Aquaculture Development have all been taken forward since then, but they are all development reports. They are routes to development. Licensing is important in the context of development. However, after the Cawley report we got the ECJ judgment and the new legislation. Things changed after the Cawley report. The Cawley report was not a report into aquaculture and licensing but into the development of the seafood sector.