Mary White (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)

I represent a great riverine constituency. The Nore, Barrow, Slaney rivers, among others, run through Carlow and Kilkenny. They are breathtaking in their beauty and length and a rich source of folklore. In the Elizabethan era, the poet Edmund Spenser said of the Barrow, "The goodly Barrow on whose bosom great salmon heape".

Ireland has some of the cleanest and most lightly fished freshwaters in Europe. Our landscape is one of small fields and wild peat bogs, littered with loughs of all sizes and drained by many rivers. There are over 7,000 miles of riverbank for the coarse and pike angler. The scale of these waters varies dramatically.

For the past ten years, I have been campaigning to end drift-netting for salmon at sea to protect the species. Thankfully, this is now done. In the area of angling we have catch-and-release which allows sufficient number of salmon to be returned and allows salmon time to regenerate in a post drift-net era. However, we must look to the coarse fish, such as roach, bream, carp, pike and rudd, whose numbers are dwindling rapidly due to exploitation. I accept coarse anglers can catch a limited amount but there is now extensive fishing of coarse species which will lead to a collapse of these stocks.

Current by-laws introduced in recent years by the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources impose a bag limit of four coarse fish in any one day and prohibit the killing of any coarse fish greater than 25 cm in length. They also prohibit the sale of any coarse fish in Ireland, excluding Northern Ireland. This provision will not apply to fishing tackle dealers and fish bait suppliers who have been granted an exemption. While these measures are in place, more needs to be done.

Anecdotal evidence from waterway keepers and others suggests large concerns about existing stocks. As one who treasures the biodiversity of our rivers, we must maintain it. The life cycle of flies, dragonflies, midges and water boatmen, a type of water beetle, depend on a delicate ecosystem of which coarse fish are part of the natural chain. These species are in imminent danger of stock collapse.

Will the Minister put in place adequate resources for the support of private waterkeepers? More tangible resources for inland waterways will ensure overfishing and over-exploitation of these stocks can come to an end. Coarse fishing also provides a valuable source of tourism for rural areas. Many fishermen use the Barrow riverbank from Carlow to Muine Beag, from Borris to the tidal waterways at St. Mullin's. Constituents have raised this matter with me and hope the Minister will implement measures to protect coarse fish stocks.

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