Michael Ring
Ceist:755 Mr. Ring asked the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources if BIM will carry out a survey report of the Mayo coastline to assist the fishing industry. [20567/03]
Written Answers. - Fisheries Development.
The primary fisheries along the Mayo coastline are inshore in nature. The main fisheries on which the Mayo inshore fleet depends are brown crab, lobster and salmon. BIM maintains an ongoing programme of liaison with the inshore fishing industry in Mayo. It has been involved, in co-operation with local inshore fishermen, in a number of studies and surveys in recent years on the status of these stocks and attention has also been paid to the identification of alternative fisheries and thus reduce the pressure on the lobster and crab stocks in particular. As a result a number of vessels are now "jigging" for whitefish full time and further possibilities in this area are currently being investigated. A major wild salmon quality initiative has also been implemented.
Given the dependence of the Mayo inshore fleet on a small number of species and the unlikelihood that there are unexploited inshore resources yet to be identified, BIM considers that development efforts in the future should focus on the better management of inshore fisheries resources in the context of a national management strategy for inshore stocks.