HC Deb 22 March 1999 vol 328 cc34-5W
Mr. Moss

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many(a) ministers and (b) officials travelled first class on commercial aircraft for official purposes in 1998, broken down by (i) date, (ii) cost and (iii) Civil Service grade of passenger. [73961]

Marjorie Mowlam

The rules on Ministerial travel are the same as those applied under the previous Administration. The information is as follows:

Mr. Paul Murphy

The fish counters do not distinguish between salmon and large sea trout. Neither do they record fish of a size less than 45 centimetres. Accordingly, not all sea trout will be included in the counts.

Such information as is available is contained in Tables 2 and 3 of the Annual Reports for the Foyle Fisheries Commission, copies of which are in the Library of the House. The Reports of the Foyle Fisheries Commission for 1997 and 1998 are not yet in the Library and the information available is as follows:

River Faughan: Fish counts at Campsie Barrage
1997 1998
January 223 8
February 91 0
March 12 0
April 10 0
May 23 341
June 784 1,158
July 1,291 39
August 320 286
September 748 74
October 23 303
November 0 131
December 0 737

River Mourne: Adjusted Count of Salmon at Sion Mills Weir

Although a fish counter was in operation at Sion Mills Weir during 1998 the counter was not operational for the period February to May due to the construction of a new fish pass and fish counting facilities. The validation of the counts of the 3 channels of the new facilities, when in operation in 1998, has not yet been completed and therefore it is not possible to provide any accurate figures for that year. The 1997 count was as follows:

1997
January 879
February 108
March 36
April 0
May 75
June 1,849
July 1,480
August 140
September 226
October 480
November 1,200
December 574

Mr. William Ross

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in each of the years 1990 to 1998, how many(a) salmon and grilse and (b) sea trout, were taken by (i) nets and (ii) anglers in the Foyle Commission area. [76883]

Mr. Paul Murphy

Although it is a statutory requirement that anglers in the Foyle Area make an annual catch return, in practice only a very small percentage of anglers provide this. On this basis, the catch information provided (and the percentage of anglers making a return) is as follows:

Salmon and Grilse Sea trout
Year Nets Rod catch Nets Rod catch Percentage returns from anglers
1990 44,420 927 1 1,399 5.00
1991 25,816 482 1 1,222 9.17
1992 42,257 523 1 1,415 5.78
1993 38,028 1,214 1 738 9.11
1994 38,854 1,759 1 592 12.12
1995 35,912 708 1 759 6.77
1996 30,544 1,444 1 771 3.44
1997 43,963 1,020 1 802 3.30
1998 39,950 1 1 1 1
1 Not available