Mr. Jerry Early:

I forgot to include in my submission that we have disengaged from the CFP because we feel many of our proposals were not included. I do not think there is much there for the inshore and small-scale sectors. It is a shame.

Deputy Mac Lochlainn's question on the spurdog is a great question. This has been a pretty negative meeting, as Mr. Doherty of the KFO said, but the one chink of light I see is the possible TAC coming down on spurdog. We all remember back 15, 20 or 30 years ago when every small harbour around the coast benefitted from the spurdog and gillnet fishery. When Mr. O'Donoghue came out to the island, one of his roles at the time was to give the bad news to the fishermen here that, because of its relation to the shark family, spurdog was being banned and it was very unlikely it would ever come back. There is a small chink of light that we may get a quota back. It is imperative for the small-scale sector, which has been hammered. Everybody has difficulties with quotas and it is a difficult sector to be in at the moment. We all represent our own little corners and members. It is hard for everybody because we continuously seem to be knocking our head against the door.

There is a chance to regenerate some of these harbours that the Minister is very proud of. He is saying there is €56 million being spent on them. How many harbours have young people coming out of them? How many have a seasonal long fishery when it is not getting hammered into lobster, crab and nothing else? We all know the destruction caused by the salmon closure in our small areas. This is an opportunity to start to right the wrongs for us all, not just the inshore sector. Many good fisherman out there are throwing spurdog out hand over fist. The pelagic men will say the spurdog are causing all kinds of problems in the fish pumps, etc. It is important, if we get a quota, that it is shared and that we share not only the pain but the joys of getting something back to our areas. That is a positive in a sea of negativity.