Vol. 564 No. 2
154 Mr. McHugh asked the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources if his attention has been drawn to a proposal to impose a charge for coarse fishing in selected areas on the River Suck and River Shannon by the Shannon Regional Fisheries Board; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9104/03]
Under the Fisheries Acts 1959 to 2001, the regional fisheries boards are empowered to have a permit charge for angling on fisheries under their control and management. However, the application of such a permit charge is an operational matter solely for the relevant board to decide and is not something over which I, as Minister, have control. As I informed the House on 5 February 2003 and again on 25 and 26 February 2003, I am advised by the Shannon Regional Fisheries Board that it has had a permit charge for trout angling for many years on the board controlled fisheries and that the permit income is reinvested in the conservation and day to day management of these fisheries.
I understand the fisheries board, in reviewing its management and the fees charged for its fisheries in 2002, decided to extend the permit charges to cover coarse angling on the board-controlled fisheries, on the basis that it was unfair to charge one angler to fish for one species while another angler fishing for a different species, on the same water, was not charged.
