§ Mr. Onslowasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what account he takes, in his study of the use of monofilament nets, of the action taken to conserve salmon stocks in Irish waters and the restrictions applied to the use of such nets; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. BishopI have asked to see the evidence which the Salmon Research Trust of Ireland provided to the Irish Government before their recent action to ban the use of these nets. I hope that this will be useful in the research which my Department is undertaking. The results of the Ministry's work last year off12W the North-East Coast were inconclusive, because conditions were atypical. The programme of investigation is being repeated this year.