andMr. Keaveney asked the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries why salmon net fishermen holding licences under the Letterkenny Fishery Board are debarred from landing their fish at Greencastle, County Donegal.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Salmon Net Fishermen.
29.
With a view to the conservation of the salmon stocks in their area the Foyle Fisheries Commission require fishermen desiring to land their catch in any part of the Foyle area, which includes the port of Greencastle, to hold a licence from the commission. The commission have for a number of years past kept the numbers of net licences issued within limits dictated by the needs of conservation and I accept that the commission are justified in doing this.
On the last occasion we tabled this question we made the case that there was considerable hardship involved for some of these fishermen. On that occasion the Minister promised to look into this matter.
Apparently, it is pretty well known that the Letterkenny Fishery Board gave a licence to anybody who produced something in the region of £3 regardless of the conservation needs in the area. It is because of the fear of the Foyle Fisheries Commission that they require that licences to be used within the Foyle fisheries area should be issued by them. That is fair enough because the whole question of salmon stocks is vitally important at present due to substantial overfishing of salmon.