asked the Minister for Agriculture (1) if he is aware that foreign trawlers are fishing openly in the territorial waters of the Free State and thereby doing considerable damage to a great national asset; (2) what steps he is taking to conserve and improve this source of national wealth; (3) if he is aware that these poachers in our coastal waters have a common fund, out of which fines imposed on offenders are paid; (4) if he will introduce a measure empowering the courts to sentence to imprisonment foreigners who invade our coastal fisheries; (5) what progress, if any, has been made in the negotiations with the Federal Government of the United States in regard to the modification or removal of the Fordney tariff on mackerel exported from the Free State to the U.S.A.; (6) how many of the skippers and crews of extern trawlers have been convicted and captured during the year 1935; the aggregate amount of fines imposed on them; the cost of the "Muirchu" and its crew during the same period, and the amount of law costs and Gárda expenses paid by the Free State in connection with and as a result of these prosecutions against the offending trawlers.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Saorstát Fisheries.
Dr. Ryan
I am aware that a number of trawlers and other fishing vessels of extern nationality have from time to time been observed operating at places apparently within the exclusive fishery limits of this country, and am doing all I can with the means at my disposal to deal with the situation. I have more than once seen Press statements indicating the existence of some common fund from which fines imposed upon convicted offenders are met, but I have no definite knowledge on the subject. I believe that the powers conferred by the Sea Fisheries Protection Act, 1933, are adequate, and do not propose to seek any extension of those powers. There is not, so far, any evidence of an intention on the part of the Government of the United States of America to remove or modify the import duty charged on pickled mackerel entering that country. (a) The number of skippers of trawlers and other fishing vessels of extern nationality convicted during the year 1935 of operating within the exclusive fishery limits of Saorstát Eireann was 10; (b) the aggregate amount of fines and costs, etc., imposed in the cases referred to at (a) was £612; (c) the cost of the fishery cruiser "Muirchu" (wages and maintenance) in the like period was £7,223; (d) I am not in a position to furnish the figures for law costs and Gárda Síochána expenses incurred in these cases.