I propose to take Questions Nos. 69 and 134 together.
I am fully aware of the views of the chairman of the North Atlantic Salmon Fund, Mr. Orri Vigfusson, regarding commercial drift net fishery for salmon. The North Atlantic Salmon Fund is an Icelandic-based voluntary organisation, mainly financed by private donations from individuals and groups. As a lobby group, NASF works to conserve and restore North Atlantic salmon stocks by focusing in particular on voluntary quota buy-outs with commercial salmon fishermen through a mix of public and private funding.
The fund has periodically brokered annual compensation agreements with Greenland, Faroes and Icelandic salmon fishermen with mixed results. It is lobbying for the closure and buy-out of commercial salmon net fishing in Ireland with matching public funding.