Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 11 Jun 2003

Vol. 568 No. 2

Other Questions. - Fisheries Protection.

Ciarán Cuffe

Question:

66 Mr. Cuffe asked the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources the arrangements commercial salmon fishermen should follow when they return to port with salmon in excess of the number of tags they had on board; the arrangements they should make if due to telecommunications difficulties they are unable at the time to contact the relevant fishery board officers; and the frequency with which the commercial salmon log books have to be returned for examination by the fishery board officers. [16012/03]

Mr. Browne

I recently signed regulations revising the wild salmon and sea trout tagging scheme for 2003. These regulations provide, inter alia, for the surrender of captured wild salmon or sea trout where tags and quotas are exhausted and the delivery of completed logbooks and unused tags to the chief executive officer of the regional fisheries board.

Under the regulations, the chief executive officer of the regional board is charged with the statutory responsibility and accountability to manage and operate the tagging scheme. In order to ensure a consistency of approach and equitable distribution of tags in each district, I have asked the Central Fisheries Board to issue guidelines for the implementation of the scheme to the chief executive officers.

I am advised that under these guidelines, a fisherman returning to land with untagged fish must notify either the regional fisheries board office or a fisheries board officer whose mobile telephone number will be available, informing the board that he has returned to port with untagged fish. While the fish should be left on board the vessel until the fisheries board officer arrives, the fisherman may, however, leave the boat should it prove necessary to use a land telephone line to contact either the regional fisheries board or its officer.

Where a fisherman runs out of tags, but more are available to be issued within the limits of the district and sectoral quota, the fisheries board will make arrangements to issue further tags to the licence holder. Where there are no more tags available to be issued within the limits of the quota, the untagged fish must be surrendered to the fisheries board in accordance with the regulations. I understand that under the regulations, completed commercial salmon logbooks must be returned to the chief executive officer of the regional board within seven days of the end of the relevant fishing season.

Mr. Eamon Ryan

I asked this question to illustrate the difficulties with the current tagging arrangements. Despite the best efforts and intentions of many people involved in the industry, the Minister of State will agree that, under this type of system, there will be instances when it will be impossible to apply, there will be anomalies, people will break the rules and some will ply their trade on the black market. The problem with the tagging system is that it is complicated and difficult to implement. A more straightforward system could involve either a non-transferrable quota – where one gets the tags in advance – or a complete buy-out. This reiterates an argument I made earlier.

One of the major problems is that, while we discuss these regulations, the staff and budget allocated the fisheries boards in order for them to implement the policy has been cut, as we saw in yesterday's Estimates. Despite our talk about protecting and preserving the resources we have, we are cutting back on the necessary staff. Some five people, who would have been applying this system, were laid off from the Southern Regional Fisheries Board last week. How does the Minister of State measure all the regulations, tagging systems, given the cutbacks his Department has made?

Mr. Browne

To a certain extent, the Deputy is correct to say there were abuses of the system – particularly in the first year. We asked the chief executive officers of the fisheries boards and the salmon commission to look at possible changes for 2003 compared with 2002 and a number of those changes were implemented. I had a number of meetings with fishermen from the commercial and angling sectors as well as representatives from the industry generally and few of them are happy with the new regulations. However, we took advice from stake holders on the ground and changed some of the rules. They are reasonably happy with the system that exists.

The Deputy referred to cutbacks. However, there have been few cutbacks to the inland fisheries sector. The chief executive officers have assured me they have the manpower and finances to monitor the different districts. To find a system that is 100% foolproof is difficult. Every fisherman I meet will say he is in favour of conservation, but not in his area. We must trust, as far as possible, that they will adhere to the guidelines as laid down by the Department and signed into regulation by me. I can see difficulties with some of the areas and I acknowledge we had teething problems last year. Nonetheless, we resolved some of those problems this year and I am sure that next year, in conjunction with a review by the salmon commission and the chief executive officers, we will examine further possible changes.

One of the recommendations made by the salmon commission was that logbooks should be returned every 14 days during the season. The fishermen were not happy with this and we made changes. It is working reasonably well from the information I am receiving. Last year many fishermen over-fished and returned with more fish than they were supposed to catch and yet no decision was taken to take them off or remove them, which defeated the purpose of conservation. We have tried to deal with that issue this year by requiring fishermen to report to the chief executive officer if they exceed their allocated tag numbers.

Mr. Eamon Ryan

One of the other problems of the existing system – where fishermen only get tags when they have used up existing ones – is that it forces certain fishermen out into rough weather and dangerous conditions, because they know if they do not get out, they might not get their share of the regional quota. In this we have created a dangerous situation. That is another argument in favour of an individual non-transferrable quota.

Mr. Browne

The non-transferrable quota will be examined later this year and any changes will be made in 2004. I accept, however, that there are problems with safety. This year, we gave four safety days at the end of the season because the safety days last year during the season were widely abused – they were used for family occasions such as first communions or weddings. This year we have moved them to the end of the season but I am not happy about safety days or chief executive officers telling a fisherman that he cannot have one and he must go out. We must re-examine the issue when the season is finished. It places a heavy onus on the chief executive officer to make a decision.

Cecilia Keaveney

Is the Minister of State happy with the veracity of the statistics on which the quotas are based? Some areas have a later run of salmon than others. The number of tags that go out at the start of the season do not necessarily reflect the number of fish caught. There can be cases at the end of the year where some people have drawers full of tags while others have been unable to catch salmon because the quota was used up by those people.

Mr. Browne

The quota system was based on a combination of scientific advice, recommendations from the Salmon Commission and striking a balance to ensure the best for the fishermen. This year the chief executive officers made a decision to issue a small number of tags based on the catch last year and if the tags were not used, no more were issued. Last year people were getting the tags all season but not fishing. This year only a certain number of tags were issued and if people do not fish, they do not get any more tags, they are given to other people. That is the way the chief executive officers are supposed to operate the scheme. If the Deputy finds that is not the case, she can bring it to my attention and we will discuss it.

Mr. Eamon Ryan

We are likely to have a larger catch next year because the fish are not there this year.

Mr. Browne

I do not think that is the case.