John Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)

I have read the reports of the National Salmon Commission and met the chairman. I have also met the fisheries managers, groups of drift net, draft net and snap net fishermen and anglers from all over the country. There is general agreement that stocks must be conserved. There was also a general agreement that we would accept the recommendations of the commission this year, even though the 2006 figures are slightly higher than what was recommended by the scientists. Next year we intend to move fully to the scientific figures, which will have further serious implications.

I am aware of the situation on the River Slaney and the people in that area are not too happy with the fact that I am going to sign off on a decision that will mean they will be very limited in the number of fish they can catch. However, we must also take into account that while we have 21,000 anglers, a significant number of them do not fish or catch no fish. Furthermore, a certain number of the draft net, drift net and snap net fishermen do not fish.

The decisions we have taken for this year will have to be fully complied with. The Minister and I will meet the fisheries board managers in the next two weeks to discuss serious enforcement and ensure that the 15,000 and 91,000 limits are fully observed.

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