Vol. 542 No. 1
47 Mr. J. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources the steps he is taking to ensure that Irish fishermen who are fishing for tuna will be able to continue to use the same netting procedures in the future. [23422/01]
I assume the Deputy is referring to the provisions of EU Council Regulation 1239/98 which bans drift netting for tuna with effect from 1 January 2002.
In the context of the decision taken in 1998 to ban drift netting for tuna, Ireland and France secured a four year stay on that ban. Ireland also secured agreement on research funding to develop alternative techniques, experimental fishing programmes and technology transfer with the objective of assisting Irish fishermen to convert to other means of fishing tuna in advance of the driftnet ban.
More than £2 million has been spent on experimental fishing trials by BIM working with fishermen since 1998. A variety of fishing gears and techniques have been tested with promising results especially in relation to pair pelagic trawling.
Ireland secured a substantial tuna quota in international and EU negotiations last year. The Irish fishing industry, through the development and utilisation of new techniques including pelagic trawling, long-lining and trolling, should now be positioning itself to maximise the economic return from this valuable tuna quota.
