Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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Question 200: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if it is anticipated that net fishing will be re-introduced in the River Shannon; when it is expected that fishing will commence in the River Shannon; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29155/07]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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The Standing Scientific Committee of the National Salmon Commission advised that stocks of salmon in the River Shannon are below conservation limits. For this reason, no killing of wild salmon or sea trout, over 40 cm, by any method in the River Shannon or other rivers in the catchment, with the exception of the Feale and the Mulkear, was permitted during the 2007 season. The Feale and Mulkear rivers were open for fishing because their specific stocks were judged to be meeting their conservation limits and had an identified surplus for harvest.

The Shannon Regional Fisheries Board and the Marine Institute will monitor the stocks in developing a management plan for each of the rivers in the Shannon catchment with a view to identifying the extent of the recovery, if any, arising from the cessation of the harvesting of salmon and any stock rehabilitation works undertaken.

In the future event that stocks recover in any of those rivers which are currently closed and it is established from the results of the Genetic Stock Identification Project that significant numbers of fish destined for other rivers are not intercepted within the river, it should be possible to harvest the identified surplus but within the constraints permitted by the Habitats Directive.