Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 22 November 2023
38. Deputy Mairéad Farrell asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications why the appropriate assessment screening document as legally required under the EU Habitats Directive was not published by his officials in the Inland Fisheries Division for the draft Wild Salmon and Sea Trout Tagging Scheme (Amendment) Regulations 2023 that went to public consultation on 16 November 2023; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51455/23]
View answerSection 69(8)(a) and (b) of the Inland Fisheries Act 2010 provide for the requirements in making a notice in respect of the Wild Salmon and Sea Trout Tagging Scheme Regulations and my Department and I are undertaking this public consultation in accordance with those requirements.
The Technical Expert Group on Salmon (TEGOS) present the salmon advice - regarding the scientific assessment of salmon stocks in Irish rivers - annually to Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) for a forthcoming season as soon as the advice becomes available. The earliest possible date this occurs is generally the first week of November as the advice is dependent on average catch data taken from the most recent five years of catch data and fish counters' data. As the season runs to 30th September for the majority of the rivers, the salmon advice is generated by TEGOS in October before being presented to Inland Fisheries Ireland.
IFI then forward their recommendations on the catch options for the forthcoming season after receipt of the TEGOS advice. When the IFI recommendations are received in my Department, this initiates the start of the 30-day statutory public consultation process for the Wild Salmon and Sea Trout Tagging Scheme (Amendment) Regulations. The generation of the Appropriate Assessment Screening (AAS) is dependent on the TEGOS Advice and the IFI Salmon Catch Advice as this scientific data forms the basis of the AAS. The AAS is prepared independently of IFI and once generated is sent for review to an independent external consultant.
The AAS can take several weeks to generate after TEGOS advice and IFI recommendations are finalised, therefore it is not possible, given time constraints, to publish the AAS along with the draft Wild Salmon and Sea Trout Tagging Scheme (Amendment) Regulations. To do so would delay the statutory public consultation process which would jeopardise the completion of Regulations in advance of the opening of the season on January 1st each year.
I have been informed by officials within IFI that the AAS for 2024 is currently underway and due for completion by the end of November. Once reviewed externally and approved, the AAS will be sent to my Department to support the 30-day public consultation process. As Minister, I will review the draft catch advice, the outcomes of the public consultation process and the AAS before consideration and approval of the Regulation.
