Madam, - I have been a commercial fisherman for the past 25 years and a boat owner for 11 years. I am also the holder of a drift-net salmon licence. The compulsory ban on drift-netting will take away 65 per cent of my yearly income.
It will also damage coastal communities and Gaeltacht areas from Malin Head to Kinsale. These are scantily populated areas where about 70 per cent of the houses are empty for more than 10 months of the year. It seems as if the Government's greatest priority is to decimate rural Ireland and kill off what little is left of our culture and native language.
In my view the campaign to ban drift-netting is based on lies. The so-called scientific evidence is a joke. There are 157 designated salmon rivers in the State; 26 of these have fish-counters installed but to my knowledge only nine are in working order.
The truth is that vested interests don't want to know how many fish are going up the rivers and they don't want the rest of us to know how many are coming back down.
Proponents of the drift-net ban have said Ireland is the only country in Europe where drift-netting is allowed. But drift-net fishing for salmon is still being allowed in at least two other EU member states, the UK and Sweden. There are no tags or quotas in use in either country and the fishing season is June, July and August. The drift-net fishery in Ireland is the most regulated in Europe.
Ten years ago the commercial fishermen of Ireland began to work with the regional fisheries boards on conservation measures, taking a reduction in our fishing season to only 35 days. A quota system was put in place and logging and tagging of fish was introduced. The anglers reluctantly came on board, but many anglers refused to log and tag their fish. We were promised that our pain would soon be our gain. Since then the Government and the scientists have slashed the quota every year in spite of the rivers being full of fish.
Now the anglers will reap the rewards of our labour and all we get is a two-fingered salute. This proposed ban is a blatant act of discrimination where the livelihoods of honest hard-working people are being taken and being handed to rich anglers, who will now be allowed to sell their catch legally - a version of the PD policy of privatisation!
Drift-netting is being presented as the main or only cause of the decline in salmon stocks. But there are several more important causes: the massive, uncontrolled seal population, industrial and agricultural pollution of rivers and sea, indiscriminate building on flood plains, salmon farms, poor spawning grounds due to the removal of gravel from river beds, hydro-dam construction and poaching on inland rivers. Hen salmon are killed in December and their eggs turned into fish paste which is used by some commercial anglers to kill fish illegally. Successive governments have grant-aided millions of euro to salmon farms, which are a major source of pollution and disease. Salmon farms situated in river estuaries prevent wild salmon entering these rivers due to sea lice infestation and its pesticide control. Many studies indicate that farmed salmon are full of antibodies due to the high incidence of bacterial and viral disease. The escapees from these salmon farms mixing with wildfish will eventually do irreparable damage to our wild salmon stock. The political will is not there to eradicate pollution and improve water quality or to introduce a cull on seals, or tackle poaching in inland rivers.
The present Government is interested only in counting votes, not wild salmon stocks. A small number of Fianna Fáil TDs from costal counties are now in a panic to halt the ban until after the general election in an effort to save their skins.
It is time for the fishermen and the communities which we come from to stand up and be counted. I will be calling on people to target 30 Fianna Fáil seats in coastal constituencies. I will urge fishermen not to canvass for Fianna Fáil candidates and to vote Fine Gael as a protest, or to vote for Sinn Féin and Independents if they give a public undertaking that they will not go into government with Fianna Fail. The proposed compensation fund is a complete sham. They propose to give us enough money to drown our sorrows.
Maybe Bertie Ahern will give us the phone numbers of some of his good friends who would surely have a whip-around to take care of us for Christmas. - Yours, etc,
EDWARD CORKERY, Sliabh Glas, Brandon, Co Kerry.
Madam, - For the sake of conserving fishing stocks, salmon fisherman have been rightly prohibited from using drift-nets. However, the proposed paltry sum offered by the Government to local communities devastated by this ruling - €5 million - is just €700,000 more than the alleged €4.3 million available to TDs who lose their seats in the coming election.
Such figures suggest that the current Government places greater value on the departing shadows of publicly rejected political representatives than on the well-being of Irish coastal communities. - Yours, etc,
ANNE MARIE DONOVAN, The Old Distillery, Smithfield, Dublin 7.
Madam, - John Perry TD (November 1st), outlining Fine Gael marine policy, refers to the effect on salmon stocks of the increasing seal population. It is unclear whether he is concerned about increased numbers of seals eating salmon or whether seals would have enough to eat should salmon supplies disappear.
Experienced salmon fishermen in Donegal strongly maintain that the decline in salmon stocks is directly related to the rise in seal numbers. Even a few years ago, fisherman rarely saw seals. Now seals regularly get into their nets and eat the salmon as they are being caught.
Admittedly, this evidence is anecdotal. But has anyone studied seal numbers? It could well turn out that fishermen will not be allowed to catch salmon, seals will continue to eat them, stocks will never recover and we won't have salmon anyway. - Yours, etc,
Cllr KATHLEEN KELLEHER, Rathdown Park, Greystones, Co Wicklow.
A chara, - Now that the Cabinet has approved the drift net ban, some of Minister Dempsey's colleagues in the west must be saying to him: "That's another fine mesh you've got us into". - Is mise,
LOMAN Ó LOINGSIGH, Ellensborough Drive, Kiltipper Road, Dublin 24.
A Chara, - Fine Gael's spokesman for the marine, John Perry TD, squirmed like a salmon in a net on Wednesday's Letters page.
He found himself trapped between placating the fishermen and denying the science that says we need to stop drift-netting now. Yes but no, but yes, but no.
Before the last election Fine Gael pandered to interest groups in an attempt to bag a few votes. If the party does the same again it will be rewarded with another five years in opposition. Soon our government will be like our presidency: we won't even bother with an election, we'll just let the incumbent stay in office. Pretty sad, really. - Is mise,
CIARÁN MAC AONGHUSA, Churchtown, Dublin 14.