Up to 100 salmon fishermen protested yesterday outside a meeting in Ballina where details of a quota reduction of 15 per cent on last year's catches were to be discussed.
The meeting was organised by the North West Regional Fisheries Board.
Mr Martin Kilbane, spokes- man for the fishermen, said the Minister for the Marine, Mr Fahey, was pushing the fishermen too far.
"There's no point in going in to talk to the people the Minister has sent here today. The only person that can change what's being imposed is the Minister. Frank Fahey is about to introduce legislation shortly that will make us criminals if we defy his directives. But we cannot survive as fishermen with the fishing restrictions now being put on us."
He said that four years ago, the then minister, Mr Michael Woods, reduced the fishing area, allowing fishermen to go only three miles off the coastline to fish. They used to be able to fish 24 hours a day during the season, but that has been reduced to 15 hours, and the season has been shortened.
"We accepted all that in the interest of maintaining fish stock, but now Minister Fahey wants a 15 per cent reduction in quota from last year's catches," said Mr Kilbane.
Mr William Sweeney of the draft-net salmon fishermen said he and his colleagues had accepted severe cutbacks in their catches over the past six years. "In 1996, the salmon fishing season for draft-net fishermen was severely shortened. It was reduced from February to August back to May to August. We have lost 60 per cent of our earnings since," he said.