Mr. Michael O'Brien:

Many of the cases taken by the WRC and the Marine Survey Office are at District Court level. You are talking about fines of €500 when a full catch of 5 tonnes of prawns on the basis of a two- or three-week fishing expedition nets €25,000 and fishers are being paid minimum wage, if that. Members can see the economics of it. You are talking about Circuit Court or maybe High Court-level prosecutions and four to five-figure fines, or jailings in some instances, because of the scale of some of the abuses.