I feel there is not much I need say by way of explaining this Estimate to the Dáil. The gross total is £39,062 as against £38,907 for the previous year, an increase of £155. Sub-heads A, B, C, D and E are practically the same as last year. They are the ordinary sub-heads in all Estimates, and make provision for salaries, wages, travelling expenses and incidentals. I do not think they call for any comment whatever. Sub-head E (2) comprises a couple of token items because, as I explained on the main Agricultural Estimate, these international organisations are not working at the moment and, therefore, there is no expenditure except a token amount. Coming to the F sub-heads, which relate specifically to Inland Fisheries, we find in sub-head F (1) an increase of £1,475. This is virtually all payable to local authorities. I have explained year after year that there is provision in this Estimate every year that, where local authorities lose through the new rating provision brought in in 1925—if they lose what amounts to more than 1d. in the £ in their total rate—the difference must be made good out of the Fisheries Estimate of that particular year. The amount has gone up there owing, I presume, to an increase in the rate in some counties.
In regard to the group of G sub-heads, which concern the Sea Fisheries Association, it will be noted that there is a reduction of £2,000 in the Estimate under sub-head G (1). We have had four sub-heads under G up to this, but at the request of the directors of the association we agreed in the Department to combine the former sub-heads G (1) and G (2) into one sub-head to be called sub-head G (1) representing a total grant-in-aid of administration and development; and there is a reduction of £1,000 on what is now sub-head G (2) —repayable advances for the provision of boats and gear. That arises from the fact that it is becoming more and more difficult to purchase fishing gear of any kind. Consequently, the directors have decided not to incur interest charges by borrowing from the Exchequer money which they cannot hope to utilise to advantage.
Sub-head G (3)—(formerly sub-head G (4)—remains the same as last year, for the reason that here again the directors did not see any good reason for engaging on structural development in the existing conditions of high prices and stringency of supply with regard to materials generally. In regard to the H sub-heads—Appropriations-in-aid—there is an improvement on last year's figure of £2,450, which is accounted for by three items—namely, £2,000 increase in the anticipated repayment of advances by the Sea Fisheries Association to the Department; £200 increase in the receipts expected under the Fisheries (Tidal Waters) Acts, 1934 to 1939; and a new item of £400 set down for salmon export licences. Deputies are aware, I am sure, that last year we had to bring in a provision for licences for the export of salmon, owing to regulations made by the Minister for Food on the other side.
Deputies from the maritime counties will have been interested in the figures recently published by the Sea Fisheries Association, indicating the maintenance, during 1942, of the good standard of earnings shown by the members during 1941. One result of this was that, instead of the £10,000 set down last year as the anticipated figure of repayments by the association, the amount actually repaid was £17,186. Many of the fishing boats then on hire-purchase have since been completely cleared from debt. We cannot, however, be over optimistic for the coming year. We feel that if the figure of £12,000 is attained, as set down in the current Estimate, the association will have done very well.
The £400 set down as the expected income from salmon export licences is referable, as I have already mentioned, to the new arrangement introduced by the British Ministry of Food, by which it is necessary to have licensed exporters here. That arrangement also provided for the payment by the Ministry of a fixed seasonal price for all salmon delivered in good condition to the Ministry's order, at one or other of the eight or ten points where duly authorised receiving agents were set up. The Ministry of Food was the sole purchaser and would no undertake to deal individually with all the people who had previously engaged in this trade here, as it would entail too much correspondence, accountancy work and so on, and the Ministry sought to have the number of exporters in this country reduced to about 20, but, after some negotiation, the number was finally agreed at 35. These 35 licensed exporters have to pay certain fees to my Department, which are represented in that sum of £400.
Speaking on the Fisheries Estimate last year, I told Deputies that, although the previous 12 months had been a period of prosperity, comparatively speaking, for our fishermen, I did not propose to claim the credit for that result, save to the extent to which my Department and I had helped our fishermen into a position of being able to avail of their opportunity when it came along, by reason of the fact that they had been already supplied, through the Sea Fisheries Association, with most of the requisite boats and gear. That attitude towards the question I still maintain; but this does not prevent me, in common with the Deputies generally, from expressing gratification thaP our inshore fishermen have in fact risen to the occasion in so marked a fashion.
Our total landings of sea fish for the year 1942 were 371,000 cwts., valued at £504,000, as compared with the figures of 236,000 cwts., valued at £233,000 for 1939, which may be regarded as the last full pre-war year. There is this further important point to be borne in mind, namely, that, whereas, during 1939, there were no less than nine steam trawlers in commission that made in all 259 trips, there were, for the greater part of 1942, no steam trawlers at all in commission here, and for a limited period, only three such vessels. This means that the increase in quantity of fish landed is entirely attributable to the efforts of our inshore fishermen. A pleasing feature of this expansion of their business is that these inshore men are behaving prudently towards their increased earnings, and are making every endeavour to clear themselves of all debt. In this connection, I may mention that some 45 members of the Sea Fisheries Association have, during the past two or three years, cleared the cost of the boats and gear supplied to them on hire purchase, and are now the complete owners of these outfits.
This business-like outlook on the part of individual members is reflected in the global dealings between the association and the Exchequer in respect of moneys borrowed. These borrowings by the association for the provision of boats and gear to members are repayable upon a half-yearly basis. The repayments on that basis were, as at 31st March, 1941, some £16,000 in arrear; as at 31st March, 1942, these arrears had been reduced to about £6,000; and as at 31st March, 1943, these arrears had been completely wiped out. This, I suggest, is as creditable to the fishermen-borrowers as it is satisfactory to the taxpayers whose money had been lent.
Last year I made reference to the increased difficulties in obtaining supplies of fishing gear and also of fittings and replacements for marine motor engines, not to mention increasing stringency with regard to fuel oil. It is unfortunate, but true, that conditions in these respects are worsening; and the directors of the Sea Fisheries Association have urged in their annual report that every fisherman must, in his own interest, conserve to the utmost every net and rope, as well as treat his motor engine with that extra measure of care and attention which may result in prolonging its effective existence for that extra period which is all important, if the boat owner's earnings are to be maintained.
Both my Department and the Department of Supplies have been doing everything possible to ease the situation with regard to nets, ropes and other gear of that character, and we are hoping for at least some limited results; but I want to say candidly that the position with regard to machinery is very serious, because virtually every lathe and every operative in British engineering workshops is now fully occupied on war work. I think it right to add that the directors of the Sea Fisheries Association have continued to pay particular regard to the needs of those small holders in the Gaeltacht to whom the provision of a currach or a trammel net is a matter of much consequence in their domestic economy. Deputies may be interested in the following few figures which deal with facilities provided by the association for these Gaeltacht residents:— Boats, engined, £3,400; boats, unengined, £300; motor engines and parts, £2,700; engineering services, £600; fishing gear: nets, ropes, etc., £3,000; and material for preserving nets, £100.