Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)

I welcome the opportunity to address an important issue which is having a huge impact on the lives of driftnet fishermen in County Waterford. The compensation currently being offered to salmon fishermen in the county is a joke. The driftnet ban is causing severe injustice and this must not be repeated when the time comes to allocate funds to enable fishermen to establish alternative enterprises. Waterford fishermen make a very strong case that the hardship fund payments should be the same for all licences surrendered with account taken of the years of service of the fisherman surrendering the licence, along the lines of redundancy payments in industry.

The compensation scheme seriously discriminates against Waterford salmon fishermen and their colleagues in the surrounding areas of the south-east region. In the Waterford district of the southern fisheries region, the number of driftnet licences in 2005 was 171, with an average catch per licence of 55 salmon. In the Lismore district, the number with driftnet licences in the same year was 81 and the average catch was 125 salmon. In contrast, the average catches per licence in Kerry, Mayo and Sligo were 562, 511 and 478, respectively.

As the migratory path of salmon comes down the western coast, around the south-west corner of Ireland and along the south coast, the salmon returning to rivers in Waterford run the hazard of the driftnet fisheries from County Donegal before returning to their rivers of origin. In addition, even though fishermen were given an undertaking that the information they provided regarding their catches to facilitate the quota and tagging system would not be used against them, this is not the case.

Driftnet salmon fishermen are being offered €2,020 for voluntarily surrendering their licences, with a payment from the €25 million hardship fund based on six times their annual catch of salmon for the five years to 2005, multiplied by €23. They must then verifiably decommission their nets and their boat, technically known as fixed engines, to the satisfaction of the competent authority. Given that a basic set of nets and fittings costs in the region of €2,500, the compensation for the voluntary surrender of a driftnet salmon fishing licence is less than the value of the equipment which must be decommissioned. Surely the fishermen must be at least compensated for verifiably decommissioning their nets and boats. The hardship fund payments should be the same for each licence surrendered with the length of fishing service considered.

I am calling for the entire question of compensation to be revisited and for realistic payments for those in the Waterford constituency who are being forced to give up an income and a traditional way of life for a pittance. I am also determined that a fair share of the €5 million fund for the development of new enterprises by the salmon fishermen will go to those who are badly affected by the ban in Waterford and not to those who are part of the strong lobby in the west or to large processing co-operatives which have access to other funding through Bord Iascaigh Mhara or Údarás na Gaeltachta.

The position of the Suir and Nore snap net fishermen who hold 132 licences should also be reviewed. These fishermen believe the cessation of this ancient method of fishing will cause a deterioration in their beats and that a heritage type of licence should be maintained to assist in stock assessments, counting fish and other research assignments. The salmon fishermen have repeatedly made the point that there are no fish counters in the Barrow, Nore, Suir or Munster Blackwater. Such technology is urgently needed to compile exact numbers of fish returning to these rivers because, without counters, it is impossible to know if and when the conservation limit is reached.

The fishermen believe that for the present, the sale of rod-caught salmon should not be re-introduced and that the issue should be revisited once all rivers meet their conservation limit.

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