Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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Question 240: To ask the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources the reason no compensatory measures were introduced for Irish tuna fishermen on foot of EU Council Regulation 1239/1998 which banned the use of drift nets for catching tuna and related species; if moneys allocated by the EU for the purposes of compensating tuna fishermen were spent on funding for experimental fishing by fishermen who had not fished for tuna by use of drift nets. [36910/05]

Pat Gallagher (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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In June 1998, the Council of Fisheries Ministers took a decision to ban drift netting for tuna with effect from 1 January 2002, a decision which was provided for in EU law by Council Regulation 1239/1998.

In this regulation, the introduction of the ban on drift netting for albacore tuna was postponed until 2002. As part of the transition process to new methods of fishing this valuable species, Bord Iascaigh Mhara provided substantial EU-assisted support to interested fishermen to develop alternative fishing techniques. A variety of fishing gears and techniques was tested and the results of trials undertaken have shown that it is possible to catch tuna with non-drift netting techniques and, in these circumstances, the question of compensation does not arise.

Irish fishing boats have been successfully fishing for tuna since 2002, mainly by means of mid- water trawl but also with trolling. BIM continues to work on improving our understanding of this species and during 2005 undertook trials in conjunction with a Spanish research institute, AZTI, and the Irish South and East Fish Producers Organisation in order to improve our understanding of the migratory and daily patterns of movement of this species.

The aid package agreed in 1998 was specifically designed to facilitate the development of alternative fishing techniques to drift netting. There is no question of money allocated by the EU for the compensation of tuna fishermen being spent for other purposes.