asked the Minister for Fisheries and Forestry the total number of salmon fishermen estimated to be making a living from (a) drift netting and (b) all other forms of netting.

The information available to my Department does not disclose the number of net fishermen who earn their entire livelihood from salmon fishing. On the basis of the number of licences issued by the boards of conservators approximately 2,000 drift fishermen and 2,500 other netsmen engage in salmon fishing and it is considered that their earnings from this source constitute at least a substantial part of their livelihood.

Are there included in those figures the number of people who netfish illegally?

The figures are in respect of licence holders.

Has the Minister any estimate of the number of illegal fishermen?

I would not have that information but I believe there are a number of them. They are the people we must tackle. During the last salmon fishing season we made what was the first effort to tackle them.

I do not suppose that the Minister in his young days was an offender in this respect.