James Bannon (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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945. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if he will provide, in tabular form, the number of eel catches in the years 2005, to 2009, separated into silver eels and brown eels; the name of the waters from which the figures were drawn; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11500/15]

Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)
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Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI), the State Body with responsibility for the protection, conservation and management of the inland fisheries resource, was established by the Inland Fisheries Act 2010. The information requested predates the establishment of IFI, and therefore the declared catch details for eels in the period in question were reported separately to each of the then 7 Regional Fisheries Boards.

The following table sets out the summary data, compiled by amalgamating reports to each of the 7 Regional Fishery Boards of commercial catch of Brown and Silver eels 2001 - 2007. Limited returns were made by fishermen in 2008, the last year the fishery operated, as such returns would normally be associated with the licence application for the following year. Fishing for eels was suspended in 2009.

The reported annual catch from 2001-2007 averaged 100 tonnes as referred to on the Departments website at:

As regards the breakdown of commercial catch by area, a more detailed table setting out these data, as reported at Fisheries Board level, is appended. These data indicate that the majority (almost 80%) of the catch is reported caught in the Shannon RFB and Western RFB areas.