Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

The Minister has touched on precisely the point I am making. Despite the presence of foreign trawlers in our waters, some 250 of them run by syndicates engaged in this type of activity, we do not have an effective, independent observation regime in place. A mere 1% of the €750 million European Fisheries Fund would support 250 jobs in such a capacity, collecting the data and informing future policy. In addition, we must enhance the area of eco-tourism. A difficulty in this regard, however, is that our ocean wealth is not properly researched. Activities such as recreational fishing which have been well exploited and developed in Britain have not been given the same prominence here.

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