Fishermen on Arranmore island, Co Donegal have warned that the viability of their community is in danger because of the ban on drift net fishing for salmon.
Neilly James Kavanagh, chairman of the Arranmore Fishermen's Committee, said that not allowing islanders to fish salmon will take away their livelihood.
"We are not as fortunate as people working on the mainland, if we lose our jobs here on the island, we can't just drive an hour down the road to work somewhere else, this is all we have," he said.
Arranmore fishermen recently held a meeting to discuss their options if the ban is upheld.
Mr Kavanagh said: "We are hopeful that, with the help of our politicians and all Donegal island communities we will be able to come to some sort of agreement with the Government.
"The simple fact is that we don't know anything else, this is what we do and to give up something we have done for over 100 years to provide for our families, just for someone else's enjoyment, is not fair.
"The Government took away our livelihood to please sport anglers who all probably have regular jobs and don't depend on fishing for a living." For the island fishermen of Donegal, the season for fishing salmon is from June to July, but due to the drift net ban, they had to fish for lobster and crab, putting pressure on the shellfish stocks off the coast of the county.
This results in a knock-on effect, as the season for lobster is August and September. When it came to August, Mr Kavanagh claimed there was no more lobster to fish.
Mr Kavanagh said: "Years gone by, August would have been a great month for lobster as the grounds had been rested with the boats fishing salmon the previous two months. This year, the grounds are fished out.
"The lobster gear is coming ashore now, when we should have been enjoying two good months with August and September, as there were so many more boats out fishing for shellfish." The community of Arranmore faced a huge blow earlier this year when the salmon fishing factory on the island closed due to the ban.
"The factory on Arranmore had been there for over 100 years and generations of fishing families had worked there. This is part of our culture and has been handed down through the generations, now it's gone."
Mr Kavanagh said: "If we don't get the salmon fishing going next year, the boats will stay tied up and who's going to buy them? They'll just sit there and rot and go to waste."
In total 1,315 fishermen, 242 in Donegal, applied for the Salmon Hardship Scheme nationally. In Donegal there were 277 fishermen eligible, according to the 2006 Independent Salmon Group Report.
To date, 1,269 applications have been approved, of which 240 applicants were from Donegal. The closing date for application was March 30th last.
Applicants who have been approved have until December 31st next to dispose of their fishing, return their acceptance letter with verification of disposal of the gear to Bord Iascaigh Mhara (Bim), should they decided to accept the hardship fund.
However, it also states in the Salmon Hardship Scheme application form given to fishermen by Bim, under the headline "Breach Of Current Regulations", that "an applicant who receives a hardship payment under the scheme and is in future found guilty of a breach of the regulations in relation to salmon, will be required to pay the full amount of the hardship payment received together with interest from the day of payment at a rate of Euribor plus 2 per cent."