The primary purpose of this Bill is to give full technical effect to the provisions of the Fisheries (Amendment) Act, 1999, relating to the national salmon resource. The 1999 Act, enacted in December of last year, provided for a complete overhaul of the management, organisation and service delivery of the inland fisheries sector. In the period of almost one year since the commencement of the Act, the new boards are in place and full rollout of the new framework is under way.
Senators will recall that one of the principal innovations of the 1999 Act was to provide for the establishment of the National Salmon Commission on a statutory basis. The commission has the function of assisting and advising in relation to salmon conservation strategies and management. On coming into office, I moved immediately to put the commission in place. In March I signed the order establishing the National Salmon Commission and appointed the chairman and 20 ordinary members. These members are representative of all the stakeholders in salmon, that is, the commercial sector, the recreational angling sector, the aquaculture sector and processors. It also includes the fisheries boards, the Marine Institute and the ESB.
The purpose of the salmon tagging scheme is to provide information on the catch of fish by the commercial and recreational fishing sectors. The real time management information provided by the tagging programme will help us to quantify salmon in a new way. The data provided by tagging and a radically upgraded national fish counter programme will critically inform future salmon conservation and management strategies. Section 24 of the Fisheries (Amendment) Act, 1999, provided for the making of regulations to underpin the salmon tagging scheme following consultation with the National Salmon Commission and 30 days of public consideration.
At its inaugural meeting in April the commission agreed the publication of the draft regulations. Following detailed consideration by the commission and the 30 day consultation period, the commission advised that I should sign the regulations with an effective date for implementation of 1 January 2001. In giving its advice the commission had also consulted the fisheries boards and the Marine Institute. On receipt of this advice and in light of the public consultative process, I decided to sign the regulations and move ahead with the preparations for the introduction of salmon tagging from 1 January. Prior to final settlement of the regulations in the summer, the Parliamentary Counsel advised that it would be legally necessary for offences and penalties to be provided for in primary legislation rather than by regulations which had been provided for in the 1999 Act. This advice was subsequently endorsed by the Attorney General. Accordingly, preparation of this Bill was immediately put in hand. I signed the overall regulations in August with a commencement date of 1 January 2001.
I would like to take this opportunity to brief the Seanad on progress made and matters arising from the 1999 Act. My predecessor undertook to establish an eel strategy review group to report and advise on the strategic development and general regulation of the eel industry. Terms of reference for this group are being finalised and I will be appointing the membership of the group shortly. The 1999 Act provides for revised composition of the central and regional boards. While maintaining existing boards of elected fisheries representatives on the regional boards, the Act provides for nominations and appointment of key sectoral stakeholders. I invited nominations for appointed members of the boards in March. More than 180 candidates were nominated for seven regional boards by 33 organisations.
The 1999 Act provides also for closer links between fishery co-operatives and regional boards. I have already finalised appointments of the membership of the management committees of the eight co-operatives and I look forward to a new era of effective local initiative by anglers working through the co-ops, together with the regional boards.
My immediate priority has been to secure the co-operation of all players in the tagging and counting of wild salmon as an essential management tool. The tagging system is simply a data collection scheme designed to provide a verifiable count of all the national catch. Tags and logbooks will be available free of charge under the regulations and additional tags will be made available to holders of licences subject only to compliance with the regulations. The data will inform conservation and management strategies. Tagging is not an end in itself, it is a means to an end, which is decision-making based on real and comprehensive information.
My principal policy objective is to increase returns of salmon, thus enhancing the availability of stocks for tourism and domestic sport angling to the national benefit. It is without question, however, that all sectors must play their part where catch and escapement data show that stocks are under threat. No sector will be relieved of the obligation to reduce their share of mortality in salmon in catchments at risk. I emphasise that tagging is only one practical step on a new road to restore salmon stocks. There is a great deal more to be done on a range of complex challenges facing the salmon resource. Accordingly, I invited the salmon commission in early summer to give me advice and analysis on the following key priorities: expanding and upgrading the national fish counter programme; enhanced spring salmon conservation strategies; catchment management strategies; the water quality challenge; incentivising reduction of commercial fishing effort and predation. We need to move ahead with this wide-ranging agenda and other salmon conservation priorities informed over time by the accurate statistics which tagging and counters will provide.
There have been reports recently on proposals for a buy-out of commercial salmon licences for six figure sums. These proposals have no official status. There is a long-standing body of opinion here and abroad which sees the buy-out of commercial licences as the key to restoration of stocks. The situation is far more complex in reality. Experience internationally is mixed, frankly. I am awaiting the consensus advice of the commission in the first instance but I underline that overall policy will be informed by all the factors at work. It must also reflect the legitimate entitlements of commercial fishermen as stakeholders in the resource. Significant restrictions have already been imposed on seasons and fishing days for drift and draft nets.
At present we are co-financing two pilot schemes at catchment level for voluntary set-aside of commercial fishing engines for salmon. These two schemes are based on matching contributions by other stakeholders and I have asked the regional fisheries boards to encourage the development of similar projects based on consensus and local contribution. Funding is available for such schemes subject to value for money considerations, local stakeholder contribution and demonstrable benefits for salmon stocks.
I also commend to Senators the long-standing salmon management model in place in the Foyle where, based on real time stock data and spawning targets, fishing effort by commercial and angling interests is managed each season.
Section 2 of the Bill provides for a system of on the spot fines in relation to fisheries offences. This system will operate in a similar fashion to the on the spot fine system for minor traffic offences. It will result in more efficient use of resources and reduce the costs and administrative burdens associated with taking prosecutions for minor offences. I am taking the opportunity presented by this Bill to provide for a comprehensive system of on the spot fines building on the provisions in the 1999 Act which provided for such a system in relation to the tagging scheme.
Sections 3 and 4 of the Bill provide for the necessary technical amendments to the Fisheries (Amendment) Act, 1999, and the Fisheries (Consolidation) Act, 1959, to create offences and penalties in relation to the salmon tagging scheme. The more serious offences which attract higher maximum penalties are provided for in four new subsections. Necessary consequential amendments are provided for in relation to on the spot fines and consequential disqualification orders.
Section 5 provides that the next year for elections of members to regional boards shall be 2005, which restores the standard five year period. It is intended that the elections in 2005 will be held in December which has been the norm, for practical administrative reasons, since the establishment of the boards under the Fisheries Act, 1980.
Section 6 provides that the terms of office of the appointed members can be extended up to the time of the next election thus providing for continuity of board membership.
Section 7 is an amendment proposed by the Attorney General in relation to staff members of boards who are appointed board members. Under the 1959 Act, no member of the regional board shall be eligible for paid office with the board. The amendment clarifies the position of staff appointees in this regard.
Section 8 provides for the restoration of several subsections of the 1980 Act which were inadvertently deleted by the 1999 Act.
This short Bill provides primarily for technical amendments to give effect to what was intended in the 1999 Act in relation to the salmon tagging scheme. I hope the Seanad can agree that the tagging scheme, backed up by effective and reasonable sanctions, will deliver vital management information to inform conservation strategies from now on. The information on the catch of wild salmon will be used as an input to the sustainable and equitable management of the salmon resource involving all the legitimate interests.
The national salmon tagging scheme is the most innovative and the single most important initiative in the conservation of wild salmon stocks. I hope the House will endorse it with enthusiasm. On the spot fines will be introduced. Everyone who is genuinely interested in the salmon angling resource wants to end poaching and other illegal activities which have been tolerated for far too long. This scheme provides a mechanism for the rigorous enforcement of the law with regard to poaching and other offences. The money collected in on the spot fines will go directly to providing resources for the fisheries.
I commend the Bill to the House.