The Government's objective is to preserve the salmon resource in its own right and for the coastal and rural communities that it helps to support. The economic goals for a sustainable commercial salmon fishery based on quality and value rather than volume and the development of salmon angling as an important tourism product are both compatible with the primary objective.
Since publication of the salmon management task force report in 1996, the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources has introduced a range of conservation measures which have seen considerable advancements made in salmon policy and, in particular, the management of the drift net salmon fishery. As part of these measures, the drift net season is now confined to a two-month period in June and July on a four-day week basis. Fishing is only allowed during daylight hours and is confined to the area within the six-mile limit. The Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources has also introduced the wild salmon and sea trout tagging scheme regulations, limiting the total allowable commercial catch of salmon.
On the advice of the National Salmon Commission and the National Fisheries Management Executive, I set a total allowable commercial catch of 161,951 fish for the 2004 season. This represented a reduction of 20,049 fish, 11%, cut on the total allowable commercial catch for 2003 of 182,000 fish. This total allowable catch is consistent with the Salmon Commission's recommendation last year that a three-year strategy should be put in place aimed at reaching the scientific advice on precautionary catch limits over 2003 to 2005.
The strategy of developing a sustainable commercial and recreational salmon fishery through aligning catches on the scientific advice by 2005 holds out the strong prospect of a recovery of stocks and of a long-term sustainable fishery for both sectors. There are serious reservations about a national buy-out as a cost efficient workable instrument. It is clear that buy-out is most attractive to those who take few salmon. It is not necessarily an effective means of achieving the shared objective of a restoration of salmon stocks. For some time, the Government has ruled out buy-out as an effective means of achieving the restoration of salmon stocks and instead promoted the application of quotas on commercial fishing and bag limits on angling to achieve catch reductions as the best instrument available to achieve this objective. There are no plans to introduce proposals to purchase commercial salmon fishing licences but the matter will be kept under review in the context of policy.
