John Perry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 59: To ask the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources if his attention has been drawn to the fact that an angling charter commitment by the British Prime Minister will press the Irish Government to buy out drift net licences; if he will activate pressure both direct from Britain and through the EU; if his attention has further been drawn to a significant decline of anglers visiting Ireland over the past few years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14482/05]

Pat Gallagher (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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The commitments given by the British Labour Party in its charter for angling have been brought to my attention. This Government has consistently ruled out buy-out as an effective means of achieving the restoration of salmon stocks and considers that its management of the Irish home water commercial salmon fishery, which limits the commercial salmon fishing season, confines it to within the six mile limit and restricts the number of fish being caught, are the best instruments available to achieve this objective. Since my appointment as Minister of State with responsibility for the marine, I have not received any communication from the British Government regarding the management of the Irish wild salmon fishery.

With regard to the Deputy's comments about the decline in tourism angling, I wish to refer to my previous reply to Parliamentary Question No. 68 on 8 February 2005 in this matter. In that reply, I advised the House that according to the Fáilte Ireland data, there were 83,000 visits to Ireland in 2003, where those visits were determined by angling. This compares with 56,000 in 2002 and 95,000 in 2001.

I also advised the House that the latest wild salmon statistics for catch by rod and line provided to me by the Central Fisheries Board relate to 2003 and indicated that the number of salmon and sea trout caught over the period 2001 to 2003 by anglers had increased by 18% from 27,184 in 2001 to 30,872 in 2002 and 32,017 in 2003. I must now advise the House however, that subsequent to this reply, I was informed by the chief executive officer on 9 March 2005 that errors had been discovered in the calculations used by the Central Fisheries Board to collate these statistics and that, as a result, the number of salmon and sea trout caught by anglers in 2003 was 21,885.

The central and regional fisheries boards devote considerable effort and resources, in collaboration with Tourism Ireland, to the promotion of angling abroad. I am advised however, that the overall decline in angling tourism is not unique to Ireland but reflects a trend widespread in Europe. The report of the tourism policy review group to the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism in September 2003 observes a decline in activity holidays that is not confined to angling but includes cycling and hill walking also.