Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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82. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the precise factors affecting salmon and eel stocks on the River Slaney; the reasons ten years after net fishing licences were suspended and the eel management plan came into place, these stocks have not improved to meet conservation limits; the actions he intends to take in order to address this; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13686/17]

Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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There are many factors affecting salmon and eel stocks generally. The current salmon status of the river Slaney is based on the information provided by the Standing Scientific Committee on Salmon (SSCS) and the advice and proposals provided by Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) to me as Minister. In contemplation of the 2017 fishing year, three scientific assessments of the salmon stock status on the river Slaney were undertaken based on recent fish counter data, rod catch data, and catchment-wide electro-fishing data. All three assessments indicate that the Slaney is not meeting conservation limits for both one sea winter or multi sea winter salmon stocks. Commercial fishing is only permitted where a surplus of salmon has been identified.

Ireland’s Eel Management Plan (EMP) under EU Regulation 1100/2007, which included a closure of commercial fishing, was approved by the European Commission in 2009. Ireland's EMP and its conservation measures were reviewed in 2012 and in 2015, in accordance with the EU Regulation. Both reviews involved an examination of the latest scientific data and the conservation measures, the results of which were the subject of public consultations.

IFI have been provided funding for a new collaborative research initiative involving IFI scientists and a number of former eel fishermen to further develop national knowledge of the species and its medium to longer term potential for recovery ahead of a further review of eel management measures in 2018. This scientific fishery was commenced in 2016 and is expected to continue for three years to increase data and knowledge. The initiative also includes research on the Slaney.