Joe McHugh (Fine Gael)

I request the Leader of the House to arrange for a debate on the marine industry. We are a maritime nation and we owe it to people involved in the fishing industry to have such a debate because over the years we have invested quite heavily in the marine infrastructure, be it in piers or our fleets. We should have such a debate as matter of priority.

A serious issue is developing in the pelagic sector. Fishermen on one or two vessels in the pelagic sector are overfishing and for that they should be punished, about that there is no doubt. However, as a result of guidelines introduced by the Department, serious problems exist in terms of the pelagic fleet. This fleet primarily fish scad which is a variation of horse mackerel. The scad fishermen up to last year were allowed a 10% mix of herring and other variations of mackerel.