David Norris (Independent)

That will be quite enough for me. There are other matters that should be addressed such as the lack of resources for monitoring this matter. I do not mean only monitoring our own people. If they are so innocent, why do they go without navigation lights when they are about this filthy, wasteful and profligate trade of monofilament and drift netting?

Let us look at the foreign fishermen. We all know what they do and I presume the Minister of State knows also, the way they leave their nets in the sea to save time when they are going back with their catch. They catch every conceivable kind of fish and then just dump them overboard. They then cut the nets while repairing them and leave them at the bottom of the sea where they can entangle all kinds of different fish, and there is no regulation. I can read it here, that the practice of repairing these nets at sea, cutting away and dumping overboard the miles of non-bio-degradable netting retaining only the ropes, means many miles of netting ensnare fish uselessly, fish that are then dumped.

The Minister of State knows that my interest in this is not frivolous. I have been raising this matter over the past four or five years at least. No. 22, motion No. 13 on the Order Paper, in my name and supported by the other Independents, calls for what the Minister of State should address as a programme — a total ban, starting now, on mono and multi-monofilament gill and drift nets; a ban on trawling within a six mile limit; no netting of any description within one mile of the low water mark; the creation of and an increase in the protection for nursery and spawning areas; closed seasons to protect spawning fish; angling groups like the IFSA to be involved in consultation processes; a full survey of all recreational anglers to determine our economic input; an increase in minimum sizes and a reduction of quotas for commercially exploited species; increased fishery protection resources; much tighter oversight of domestic and foreign vessels as regards landings, gear, etc.; an end to the practices of marine dumping and aggregate extraction; and, an end to nuclear waste dumping. There are other issues, including the zebra mussels.

It really surprises me to hear the occasional voice — it is not yet even the majority voice in Fianna Fáil — chirruping up to protect the Spanish trawlers from my attacks. This is a national resource which we sold out during our negotiations with the European Union. At least let us protect that fragment which remains and nourish it back to some semblance of health.

I acknowledge the difficult position of the Minister of State. I encourage him to take a courageous stance. He should not keep postponing it. Otherwise he will be in an election in 2007. I ask him to act immediately. Why create this miasma about whether it is in the national good? The Minister of State knows it is in the national good. We all know it is in the national good to provide for decent fishermen so that we can continue with the salmon stocks.