Vol. 547 No. 4
52 Mr. J. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources if his attention has been drawn to the fact that those involved in tuna fishing in the south west will suffer severe economic hardship as a result of the ban on drift net fishing which came into force on 1 January 2002; and his plans to offset these difficulties. [3659/02]
Some £2 million has been invested by BIM with EU support, on the tuna gear conversion programme since 1998. There has been an active involvement of south-western fishermen in the programme and a variety of fishing gears and techniques have been tested with promising results especially in relation to pair pelagic mid-water trawling. There is a resultant high level of interest from the fishermen in the south-west in the 2002 tuna fishery.
Ireland has a substantial tuna quota and I am confident that the fishing industry, through the development and utilisation of new fishing techniques, can position itself to maximise the economic returns from the fishery.
