asked the Minister for the Marine whether in 1987 many fishery boards had to depend on the financial help of contributions from angling boards to fulfil their statutory obligations; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Written Answers. - Fishery Boards.
18.
Gross expenditure by the fisheries boards in 1987 amounted to £6,186,000. The Exchequer grant amounted to £4,762,000 and the balance was funded by the boards' own resources. These resources included revenue from licence sales, fishery rates, payment in respect of services provided by the boards and voluntary contributions.
In many instances, those who made donations specified that the money should be used for specific purposes in specified areas. These purposes mainly related to pollution control and protection.
Those groups who made voluntary donations are to be commended and, indeed, their assistance was particularly beneficial to the boards. These receipts however, while extremely valuable and to be encouraged would form only a tiny proportion of the resources available to the boards in the pursuit of their statutory functions.
For example, the cost of the Western Regional Fisheries Board protection and development services in Loughs Corrib, Mask and Carra amounted to £233,357 of which £4,115 was contributed by angling clubs and £181 came from anglers' registration fees. So, out of almost a quarter million pounds, which amounted to 43 per cent of money spent on development fieldwork in the western region for the year, less than 1.75 per cent came from clubs and less than one tenth of 1 per cent from anglers' registration fees in 1987.