Mr. Séamus Bonner:

I am from Arranmore and I thank the committee for the opportunity to contribute to the discussion today. I will add to what Mr. Conneely said on salmon. It will be 20 years next year since the drift net fishery was closed and the stocks do not seem to have improved. It is obvious that the underlying issues have not been addressed. Water quality, barriers in rivers, salmon farms in river estuaries and pelagic bycatch are problems that have not been addressed.

To give background on pollock, it is a couple of years since the hand line fishery was closed. Our member, Muireann Kavanagh, has been highlighting it since then. She fishes with her uncle from Arranmore island using a hand line with six hooks. This fishery has been closed as a result of ICES zero TAC advice. This means we cannot have a directed fishery for a fish stock, in this case pollock. It is a very low-impact fishery. It is probably the most low- impact fishery we can have. It has not changed in hundreds of years. Meanwhile, industrial bycatch fishing continues and Muireann has been highlighting this in Strasbourg, Brussels and elsewhere. It is good to be able to talk about it today.

There was a big issue with the science that informed that decision. The surveys were not for pollock habitats and they did not take into consideration seasonal differences.

Our experience on the islands is that there are plenty of pollock around but the management area is huge, stretching from the west of Scotland down to the coast of France, and it not does not take into consideration the regional differences in the stocks. We need a system where low-impact fisheries are prioritised so if there are going to be restrictions, it does not apply to the small boat and the small person first. The committee could help with changing policy in that regard.