The Deputy appears to have received inaccurate information in this matter. Far from constituting a mere 5 per cent of the total salmon catch, the drift net fishery accounted for 85 per cent of the catch in 1985. This percentage has risen significantly over the previous decade. The position far from deteriorating since then has gradually improved, due to the efforts of the fisheries boards' staff, assisted where possible by the garda and navy, and the Deputy will be pleased to hear that preliminary data for 1990 indicate that the drift net share of the fishery declined significantly in that year.
The question of the advantage in value to the economy from releasing a marginal salmon to the recreational fishery rather than taking it commercially has been assessed in a number of studies. The ERSI in December 1988, in a report for the Central Fisheries Board, estimated that in 1986 the gain to the economy from recreational use was 100 per cent of its commercial value. The type of gain mentioned by the Deputy would only arise if it were assumed that the additional salmon released to the recreational fishery were caught by visiting anglers from outside the country and such expenditure would not be made in Ireland in the absence of these fish in these numbers. Increased fishing by native anglers would entail a redistribution of income within the economy and not necessarily any net gain to the economy.