§ 4. Mr. Dunlopasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when he expects to publish the promised report of the official survey carried out in the Foyle Fisheries in autumn 1973.
§ Mr. MoyleThe experts have submitted their draft report to the Foyle Fisheries Commission and it is now in the hands of the printers. The Commission hopes to be in a position to submit the report to the responsible Ministers in Belfast and Dublin by early January. The question of publication will then be a matter for them to decide jointly.
§ Mr. DunlopIs the Minister of State aware that the two Canadian experts who carried out this survey found that there had been gross overnetting and overfishing in the area of the Foyle and that a large amount of this was being done from the Republic side? Is he aware that the experts' recommendations have not been carried out? Will he give an undertaking that the recommendations will be carried out, and an assurance on the early publication of the report?
§ Mr. MoyleI cannot give an undertaking that the report will be published until the relevant Ministers in Belfast and Dublin have seen it, but I see no reason why the report should not be published at that stage. The investigation was set up because there had been a deterioration in the Foyle salmon fisheries. We shall have to await the publication of the report before we can decide what to do.