Vol. 516 No. 4
30 Mr. Finucane asked the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources if he will seek the banning of the use of gillnets at European level to ensure some species, such as monkfish and megrim, do not become extinct. [7907/00]
While I have no plans to seek a total ban at EU level of the use of gillnets, I will press, with the support of Irish fishermen, for the regulation of the maximum length of demersal gillnets. This is one of a significant range of additional technical conservation measures needed to protect increasingly vulnerable fish stocks which I am pursuing with the Commission and member states.
