Statements on the Salmon Fisheries Report - 25th October 2005

Statements on the Salmon Fisheries Report – 25th October 2005

Mr. Norris: A previous speaker from this side of the House was chastised for being partisan and political but I hope I will not. I hope what I have to say, which will be critical, will be seen to be founded on clear, scientific evidence and not as politically partisan. I have no reason to be partisan.
To give an example, I was extraordinarily impressed by the contribution of Senator Dardis. He spoke from the Government benches with clarity, the real passion of a committed fisherman and with honesty. That was most important. He made clear what he believed should be the solution. With regard to Senator Mansergh's contribution, one listens to people of a party political persuasion, sometimes with a degree of amusement, when they talk about the easy political choice and what is most popular with voters, as if political parties on one side of the House were immune from this. Of course, they are not. There is a political element in this debate and I accept that.
Senator Mansergh spoke about the rights of the fishermen but soon there will be no fish left anyway. That is the situation we face. The Minister said that the Government has accepted the scientific advice. That is too little, too late. According to Deputy Eamon Ryan, the Minister of State ignored scientific advice and issued a quota for 150,000 fish but only 100,000 were caught. There were insufficient numbers of fish. Salmon stocks are obviously reduced. According to The Irish Times, "Minister of State Pat the Cope Gallagher has ignored developmental and scientific advice and appears determined that nothing will halt the decline in salmon stocks...". It all comes down to ending drift netting. Of course, the fishermen must be compensated but there is no point pretending there will be a fishing industry if the practice is not ended. I will quote from another scientific paper: "The TAC [total allowable catch] approach has, however, been serious compromised by two factors: the consistent failure of the Minister of the day to follow scientific advice in setting TACs...." This is not against a particular party or Minister but against all of them. They have all been afraid to grasp this nettle.
On a personal basis I have a great fondness for the Minister and he is a decent man. However, he more or less admitted that he was massaging the situation a little. He told the House: "Senators will be aware that I have already given a firm commitment to aligning the exploitation of salmon with scientific advice by 2007..." One sees shades of St. Augustine, asking the Lord to make him chaste but not just yet because there is fun to be had in the meantime. The reference to 2007 is a clear indication that the Minister is not taking the scientific advice at present. He said as much in his speech by saying we will adhere to the scientific advice in 2007, two years hence. What will the situation be then? That is the problem.
There is another matter. I base my contribution on facts and the Minister is welcome to challenge them. According to the latest scientific advice the returns of spawning salmon in 2004 were below the levels required to meet their conservation limits in 14 of the 17 Irish fishery districts. Eight of the 14 districts were so far below their conservation limits that the scientific advice was that there was no exploitable surplus of salmon. In other words, there should have been no fishing in those areas. The source of this information is a paper entitled "Provisional Catch Advice for 2005 from the Standing Scientific Committee of the National Salmon Commission to the Commission", dated 30 November 2004.
I appreciate, as a practical politician, that there is a large scale drift net industry, particularly in the Donegal area. Let us be honest - that means there is political pressure. We should strengthen the Minister's hand in dealing with this political pressure by ensuring that all sides of the House recognise the crisis with fishing stocks. There is no question that there is a crisis. It is my understanding that most of the drift net fishermen recognise they are at the end of the line and will accept a compensation package.
The Minister also said that he will not make any money available until and unless it is proved to be in the common good. What planet are we on? It has been proved time and again that it is in the common good to give these people a dignified exit from a situation where they are destroying the industry for everybody, not just for the commercial trawlers. It also affects angling, which is worth €55 million to this country and has spin-off effects for hotels, cottage industries, ghillies, boatmen, the people who supply bait and so forth. There is a strong economic argument in that regard but it is being killed. The Minister is well aware that the angling magazines are warning people away from Ireland because of the disastrous situation. We must tackle this issue directly and immediately; putting it off is useless.
The Minister gave a party political speech in which he took on the spirit of the Taoiseach, Deputy Bertie Ahern, by saying, in effect, lots done, more to do.
He stated that throughout the last year the Government has done this, that and the other, but that he fully accepts that there is more to be done. First, he has not done half enough in the past and, second, he can start immediately in addressing the situation regarding fish stocks. Those are comments on the Minister of State's speech. They are not made in a personal or partisan sense, I would say so to any Minister of any party in Government because we are facing a real crisis.
One must look at the figures. Senator Mansergh stated that we do not really know and the scientific evidence is unclear. Not only is it not unclear, it is unanimous and totally unambiguous. If Senator Mansergh thinks it is the seals who are responsible for it, then I suggest he should do another doctorate in marine biology and marine science because we know that at least 70% of the salmon catch throughout the entire island comes from drift netting. That only leaves 30% to be distributed among everybody else, including the unfortunate seals who have been-----

Mr. Kenneally: That is not true.

Mr. Norris: These are the facts and figures.

Mr. Norris: Some 70% of the Irish salmon taken by all methods of exploitation, including recreational angling, fall to the drift nets. I have with me the catch returns in itemised form. On top of that-----

Mr. Kenneally: What is the catch for seals?

Mr. Gallagher: How many did the seals consume?

An Leas-Chathaoirleach: Senator Norris without interruption.

Mr. Norris: This is the point. The Minister of State does not know, does he?

Mr. Gallagher: The Senator does not know.

Mr. Norris: I have a fairly good idea. Nothing justifies the slaughter of the seals, the way it was done against the law in Kerry. It is easy for the Minister to blame the seals for his inadequacy and finger a poor unfortunate dumb animal instead of doing what all the scientists state he should do. Over the period from 1970 to 2003, for example, the salmon catch has dropped to less than one quarter of its previous levels. That should set alarm bells ringing in even the dullest of minds and I am not suggesting for one second that the sharp person from Donegal has a dull mind. If there are some dull minds around, they need to be awoken.
The clear scientific indications are that in 59% of our rivers no salmon should be taken by any means whatever. That is what the scientists are saying. A further 27% should have severe reductions applied. This is what we are being told and this is where we need action.
If one looks at the question of growing salmon, many of the rivers that have a potential to produce juvenile salmon are on the south-east and east coasts. Here is a situation where they put drift nets right across the mouths of the rivers - it has been described to me as like having a drift net across the factory gates. The Minister of State is stopping production by allowing this method, which should be stopped.
I will give Senator Kenneally all the details and documents. I would have no difficulty in doing so. They are facts in black and white. We know it. There is no point in denying it. Why is the Minister of State in denial? We know it perfectly well. We know that bass have been affected. One must look at the position in the case of cod. Were we not all on the same side when the people in Newfoundland were fighting against the Spanish and Portuguese? Why is he singing a different tune now? We should be trying to protect what is left of our stocks. We also know that, for example, there should be proper openness and transparency in the case of our own fishermen and in terms of resources. I am sure the Minister of State could confirm - or perhaps he will express disbelief as well - that at weekends, and occasionally even in the evenings, there are no patrols. We have no regulations. I am delighted to hear that the salmon take the weekends off. That is another scientific fact from Fianna Fáil. That is great. Do they have bank holidays off as well?
An Leas-Chathaoirleach: The Senator has one minute remaining.
Mr. Norris: That will be quite enough for me. There are other matters that should be addressed such as the lack of resources for monitoring this matter. I do not mean only monitoring our own people. If they are so innocent, why do they go without navigation lights when they are about this filthy, wasteful and profligate trade of monofilament and drift netting?
Let us look at the foreign fishermen. We all know what they do and I presume the Minister of State knows also, the way they leave their nets in the sea to save time when they are going back with their catch. They catch every conceivable kind of fish and then just dump them overboard. They then cut the nets while repairing them and leave them at the bottom of the sea where they can entangle all kinds of different fish, and there is no regulation. I can read it here, that the practice of repairing these nets at sea, cutting away and dumping overboard the miles of non bio-degradable netting retaining only the ropes, means many miles of netting ensnare fish uselessly, fish that are then dumped.
The Minister of State knows that my interest in this is not frivolous. I have been raising this matter over the past four or five years at least. No. 22, motion No. 13 on the Order Paper, in my name and supported by the other Independents, calls for what the Minister of State should address as a programme - a total ban, starting now, on mono and multi-monofilament gill and drift nets; a ban on trawling within a six mile limit; no netting of any description within one mile of the low water mark; the creation of and an increase in the protection for nursery and spawning areas; closed seasons to protect spawning fish; angling groups like the IFSA to be involved in consultation processes; a full survey of all recreational anglers to determine our economic input; an increase in minimum sizes and a reduction of quotas for commercially exploited species; increased fishery protection resources; much tighter oversight of domestic and foreign vessels as regards landings, gear, etc.; an end to the practices of marine dumping and aggregate extraction; and, an end to nuclear waste dumping. There are other issues, including the zebra mussels.
It really surprises me to hear the occasional voice - it is not yet even the majority voice in Fianna Fáil - chirruping up to protect the Spanish trawlers from my attacks. This is a national resource which we sold out during our negotiations with the European Union. At least let us protect that fragment which remains and nourish it back to some semblance of health.
I acknowledge the difficult position of the Minister of State. I encourage him to take a courageous stance. He should not keep postponing it. Otherwise he will be in an election in 2007. I ask him to act immediately. Why create this miasma about whether it is in the national good? The Minister of State knows it is in the national good. We all know it is in the national good to provide for decent fishermen so that we can continue with the salmon stocks.


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