asked the Minister for the Marine the number of draft net licences issued in 1988 for the Dundalk Bay area.
22.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Draft Net Fishing Licences.
17.
asked the Minister for the Marine the number of people who have applied for draft net licences for the Dundalk Bay area for 1989.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 17 and 22 together. Forty draft net licences were issued in 1988 to Dundalk fishery district under the Control of Fishing for Salmon Order, 1982.
A total of 46 persons have applied in 1989 for the 40 draft net licences allocated to Dundalk fishery district under the Control of Fishing for Salmon Order, 1982. Of this total, 39 are seeking renewal of licence and seven are new applicants.
Has the Minister any plans to increase the number of licences in this area, bearing in mind that he did so on a previous occasion for people in Kerry?
The Deputy must be aware at this stage that pressure is on my Department to curtail rather than increase the number of drift or draft net fishing licences. The recommendations of the review body which was established by my predecessor as regards how the whole salmon fishery aspect might be managed have come out very strongly in support of a view that drift or draft net fishing should be curtailed rather than increased.
I know that there is a particular problem in the area to which the Deputy refers. I give an undertaking here to have the matter examined to see if it is possible to make some arrangements which would meet the problems of the fishermen in that area.
I thank the Minister for his concern. He has already met people from this area. In view of the number of people who are seeking licences, I would ask him to do what he can to increase the number of licences at the earliest possible moment.
The strongest suggestions have been made that we should change the method of fishing from draft net to drift net fishing. These are technical problems. The advice that the fishery board give for this area is that the existing control should remain, in the interests of the fishermen themselves. If they continue to overfish, that will put pressure on the stocks and probably damage the fishermen's own livelihood in the long term. As I have said, we are prepared to look at the situation in consultation with the Deputy, to see if we can work out a satisfactory solution.