Seán Power (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)

I thank Senator Ó Domhnaill for raising this matter. I am pleased to provide as much information as possible. If there are particular issues raised by the Senator to which I cannot respond tonight, I would be please to follow up on the matter.

In May 2007, approval was given by the North-South Ministerial Council for the introduction of salmon conservation measures to be administered by the Loughs Agency of the Foyle, Carlingford and Irish Lights Commission. The agency is a North-South body established under the British Irish Agreement Acts, responsible for, among other things, the protection and conservation of inland fisheries in the Foyle and Carlingford areas.

Regulations agreed by the North-South Ministerial Council provided the Loughs Agency with the necessary powers to manage wild salmon stocks in the Foyle and Carlingford areas, in compliance with the EU habitats directive and the recommendations of the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organisation. Recognising the impact that cessation of the mixed stock fishery at sea would have on traditional salmon fishermen, approval was also given for a hardship scheme for former drift and draft net licence holders who were active between 2002 and 2006.

Commercial salmon fishing has traditionally involved the use of drift and draft nets. Drift net fisheries have operated in the Foyle area and in the area seaward of Lough Foyle. Draft net activity has been concentrated in recent years in the tidal River Foyle, between Derry and Strabane. As the stocks exploited seawards of Lough Foyle are mixed and include stock from rivers not achieving their conservation limits, the agency introduced regulations to prohibit fishing of salmon in this area. The stocks exploited in the Foyle by the commercial fishery had previously been achieving their conservation limits, but were unlikely to continue to do so if a rationalisation of the fishing effort was not achieved. In 2006, evidence indicated that a rationalisation was necessary for stock levels to continue to meet conservation limits and for the future viability of the commercial fishery.

The Loughs Agency, in conjunction with the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources and the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development in Northern Ireland, introduced a hardship package for salmon fishermen no longer able to fish in the drift net fishery. The scheme was extended, on a voluntary basis, to the existing draft net fishery operators who fished their licences in 2006. The salmon hardship scheme was intended to provide a measure of relief to individual licence holders in line with the degree of hardship likely to be experienced on foot of the cessation of salmon fishing arising from the closure of the interceptory fishery seaward of Lough Foyle.

Payments under the scheme were calculated on the basis of the average catch of the individual licensee between 2002 and 2006, as declared in catch returns. The value to the licensee of these fish after expenditure on fishing operations was calculated at €24.50 per salmon. The licensee's hardship payment equates to five times the average catch multiplied by this value per fish. In recognition of the investment that fishermen have made in fishing gear, an additional sum of six times the value of the 2007 licence fee was also paid.

To qualify for payment under this scheme, therefore, applicants would have had to have been awarded a licence between 2002 and 2006 and have operated in the fishery themselves as licence holders. Payments would only be made once the fishermen had signed an undertaking that they would not apply for a licence again and that their fishing gear had been decommissioned in a certified manner.

The scheme is funded by the Irish Government and the Northern Ireland Executive. State aid approval was obtained for the scheme from the European Commission. There were 130 successful applications under the Loughs Agency scheme consisting of 90 former drift net licensees and 40 former draft net licensees. A number of applications were unsuccessful as they did not meet the eligibility criteria because they were unable to show evidence of active fishing between 2002 and 2006. The total cost of the scheme administered by the Loughs Agency is expected to be around €3.8 million. A total of €3.2 million has been paid to date, of which 50% was Exchequer funded. The remaining €600,000 will be paid out in 2009. The number of drift nets that operated in the Foyle area has been reduced from 112 to 18 and the number of draft nets which operated within the lough and River Foyle decreased from 50 to 12. The management and operation of the wild salmon fishery in Lough Foyle is now consistent with the habitats directive.