Has the Minister had any discussions with his colleague in the Department of the Marine who is here with us at present in acknowledging that there is a problem in some of the rivers in that there is a severe lack of fish running in the rivers? This is being caused by the overfishing of our stocks by mono-filament nets at sea. This is happening particularly off the south and south-east coasts which had a growing tourism angling industry but which are now suffering drastically. Have there been any interdepartmental discussions on how best to get around this matter if we want to develop angling which I believe has huge potential?

I have had plenty of discussions with the Minister for the Marine and it is his objective to invest moneys in both the protection and development of fisheries. That is as he informed me.