Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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262. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment his views on correspondence (details supplied). [2668/18]

Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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264. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the legislation governing licences for commercial fishing for salmon; and his views on issuing heritage licences for rural coastal and island communities to fish for salmon. [2747/18]

Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 262 and 264 together.

The relevant legislation for commercial salmon fishing is the Inland Fisheries Acts 1959 To 2017 and a suite of secondary legislation enacted each year following annual review. Management of salmon stocks is informed by scientific advice from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) and Ireland’s Standing Scientific Committee.

Ireland manages salmon stocks on an individual river basis. This management is carried out by Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI), the State Agency with statutory responsibility for inland fisheries. This is based on the fact that each of Ireland’s 147 salmon rivers, river sections, estuaries, etc., has its own genetically unique stock of salmon which migrates to sea as juveniles and returns to the same river in adulthood to spawn and create the next generation of fish exclusive to that river.

The Atlantic salmon is a protected species under the EU Habitats Directive with which Ireland’s current salmon management regime complies. In order to align fully with the Directive and the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organisation (NASCO) principles, the Irish Government closed mixed stock fisheries in 2007, including coastal and offshore fishing for salmon, and introduced a Hardship Scheme under which, fishermen active in the commercial salmon fishery could opt to voluntarily cease fishing and undertake not to seek a licence in the future. In excess of €25 million was allocated to the scheme to facilitate payments to fishermen, with a further €5 million provided for community development projects. The scheme closed for applications on 31 December 2007 and ceased in 2008. It is considered that river stocks in Ireland would be in a far more perilous state if the closure of mixed stock fisheries had not been implemented.

Harvest fisheries are now only allowed on individual river stocks which are shown to have a surplus of fish over the conservation limit. Fisheries in estuaries may also be permitted where the stocks from individual rivers entering the estuaries are each meeting their individual conservation limits.

During migration from rivers to marine feeding grounds, salmon from both rivers in Ireland and rivers in other countries travel through Ireland’s coastal waters. These "mixed stocks" pose particular difficulties for management as they contain individual fish often from a wide range of rivers some of which are below sustainable reproductive capacity. Any deviation from current policy would be contrary to the international independent scientific advice and would lead to indiscriminate exploitation as the “home river” of off-shore salmon cannot be identified and it is not possible to disaggregate the individuals or stock groups at sea.

Such a move could potentially lead to conflict with EU and international obligations on grounds of not protecting vulnerable Irish and international salmon stocks. The conservation imperative demands that current salmon stocks are not further eroded by mismanagement or inappropriate exploitation, whether via angling, commercial fisheries in rivers inland or through the operation of mixed stock fisheries at sea or in estuaries.

Fisheries management does not provide for the concept of a heritage fishery and essentially the basis for all exploitation must responsibly concentrate on the availability of a surplus resource as the paramount criterion for licensing activity. Consideration of heritage matters is more appropriate to the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. However, the context of any discussion as regards salmon fishing must be set against the background of the State's obligations under, and adherence to, the EU Habitats Directive, other environmental legislation and international agreements.

Ireland is committed to international agreements entered into at EU level and at NASCO and the prohibition of mixed stock fisheries is a key element of international best practice in salmon conservation and management.