Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 335: To ask the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources if there is compensation in relation to a fishing issue (details supplied) in County Mayo. [25541/06]

John Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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I have no plans to provide compensation for commercial salmon fishermen arising from necessary reductions in total allowable catch in 2006 that are required to sustain and rebuild salmon stocks.

The reduction in quotas for the North Western Regional Fisheries Board's districts referred to by the Deputy was recommended by the National Salmon Commission (NSC) and the National Fisheries Management Executive (NFME) based on scientific advice. The reductions, which have been made for conservation reasons, apply to all fisheries districts. In the circumstances compensation is not appropriate. The district quotas for 2007 will be determined on the basis of scientific advice from the NSC and the NFME. The Standing Scientific Committee of the NSC has indicated that mixed stock fisheries pose particular threats to the status of individual stocks and that fisheries operated in estuaries and rivers are more likely to fulfil national and international obligations.

The NFME has identified a range of pilot projects to facilitate the commercial fishery to move from areas of indiscriminate mixed stock fishery exploitation. I understand that if the results of genetic analysis show that some estuarine drift net fisheries exploit individual salmon stocks or salmon stocks from a number of rivers in home estuaries, these nets could continue to operate provided the rivers entering those estuaries were above conservation limits.

I recognise the considerable efforts made by the commercial fishing industry over the past number of years to build a sustainable fishery and that they have endured large cuts in the quotas available to them. I realise that these reductions have caused them difficulty and that full alignment with the scientific advice will likely compound these problems. For these reasons, I recently appointed an independent group to examine the implications of the new regulations for the commercial sector in 2007 and beyond and to make recommendations on the options available to address any financial hardship that may arise.