Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)
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Question 230: To ask the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources the proposals he has in the matter of a buyout of drift net salmon fishermen; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15326/04]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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As I previously outlined to the House, the overriding objective of the Government is to preserve the salmon resource in its own right and for the coastal and rural communities that it helps to support.

The economic goals for a sustainable commercial salmon fishery based on quality and value rather than volume and the development of salmon angling as an important tourism product are both fully compatible with the primary objective. For some time now, the Government has ruled out buy-out as an effective means of achieving the restoration of salmon stocks and instead promoted the application of quotas on commercial fishing and bag limits on angling to achieve catch reductions as the best instrument available to achieve this objective.

The current strategy of developing a sustainable commercial and recreational salmon fishery through aligning catches on the scientific advice by next year holds out the strong prospect of a recovery of stocks and of a long term sustainable fishery for both sectors.

As a result, I have no plans to introduce proposals to purchase commercial salmon fishing licences but I intend to keep the matter under review in the context of the policy outlined above.