Martin Ferris (Kerry, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his reply. My understanding is an application can be made to the National Parks and Wildlife and Service by a fishing organisation or community, and if the evidence is supported by an investigation, there would be some process to deal with the matter. The problem is that this is not happening. Perhaps much of that is down to people not being aware of the problem, and even our discussing it this afternoon might go some way towards giving people an avenue to bring the matter to the attention of the National Parks and Wildlife Service so it can carry out a survey and make appropriate decisions.

I would like to see even more than that. The damage being done to sea stocks and breeding grounds around this country is often argued to be the result of overfishing and reckless landings etc. What part of it could be down to the consumption of fish by the seal population? I have fished and I know seals have huge consumption rates, although they are beautiful creatures. On one occasion when I was fishing salmon, there were 34 salmon in my net, but by the time I got the net to the boat, there were 17 fish left. One seal had taken them and that goes back quite a bit. It was the norm at the time but the population was not nearly as big as it is now. We have the responsibility to get word to various organisations and communities that there is an avenue that they could pursue.

The Minister has not said anything about the evidence from the French survey. Would the relevant line Minister have it?

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