§ Mr. DonaldsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many game fishing licences were issued by(a) the Foyle Fisheries Commission and Loughs Agency and (b) the Fisheries Conservancy Board for Northern Ireland in each of the last five years, broken down by (i) daily and (ii) weekly licences issued; and how many endorsements were issued for (A) the Foyle Fisheries Commission and Loughs Agency licences and (B) the Fisheries Conservancy Board area. [[21419]
§ Mr. PearsonIn the five-year period 1998 to 2002 the types of game licence available from the Fisheries Conservancy Board and the numbers issued are as follows:
Fisheries Conservancy Board Licence type 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 Game season 9,002 7,598 9,688 10,212 10,788 Game 8-day 456 473 577 611 578 Game 1-day 1,387 1,337 1,243 1,019 1,101 Disabled season 914 n/a n/a n/a n/a Foyle endorsement 73 64 77 84 80 Loughs Agency
The number of game fishing licences issued by the Loughs Agency, and its predecessor the Foyle Fisheries Commission (FFC), in each of the last five years are as follows:
January February March April May June July August September October November December Total 1998 0 1 10 36 22 684 1078 788 211 121 56 0 3007 1999 0 1 11 27 41 142 269 89 358 97 46 0 1081 2000 0 0 0 9 34 96 87 199 364 111 11 50 961 2001 0 0 0 5 0 14 168 612 324 473 75 0 1671 2002 0 0 0 0 17 57 290 417 143 268 391 1 1584 2003 0 0 0 o 23 — — — — — — — —
§ Mr. DonaldsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many salmon smolts he estimates were naturally produced by salmon and grilse in the River Bush and passed to the sea in each of the last five years; how many hatchery-produced smolts passed to the sea in each of those years; by what means each of these classes of smolts were marked; and what his estimate is of the(a) number and (b) percentage of returning adult fish from (i) naturally produced smolts and (ii) hatchery-produced smolts. [121421]
§ Mr. PearsonThe number of wild smolts (naturally produced) emigrating to sea and the number of hatchery reared smolts released to sea in each of the last five years is shown in the following table.
94W
Licences 1998 7,081 1999 6,672 2000 6,220 2001 6,257 2002 7.564 The figures for (i) daily and (ii) weekly licences issued by the Loughs Agency and its predecessor, and the number of endorsements issued, are detailed as follows:
1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 Daily 1,710 1,690 1,653 1,748 2,303 Weekly 0 0 0 0 0 Endorsements 950 951 829 781 1,027
§ Mr. DonaldsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many(a) salmon, (b) grilse and (c) sea trout passed upstream through the trap on the River Bush at Bushmills in each month in each of the last five years and to the end of May. [121420]
§ Mr. PearsonData on the total number of salmon (salmon and grilse) which passed upstream through the trap at Bushmills in each month in each of the last five years is given in the following table.
Data that distinguishes salmon that have spent more than one winter at sea from grilse is not collated on a monthly basis.
Sea trout are only occasionally noted in the trap, amounting to only one or two per year. This data is not included in the table.
Wild smelts and hatchery reared smolts Wild smolt run Hatchery released smelts 1998 14,819 33,289 1999 11,921 31,643 2000 16,451 66,550 2001 14,853 75,812 2002 11,603 41.278 The number of wild and hatchery reared fish returning to the river in each of the last five years is shown in the following table together with the return rates of these groups to the river. The return rate for hatchery origin smolts is given separately for fish released as one year old and two year old smolts.
95W
Wild and hatchery reared fish returning to the river Number of adult return from wild smolts Percentage of adult return rate from wild smolts Number of adult return from hatchery smolts Percentage of adult return rate from one year old hatchery smolts Percentage of adult return rate from two year old hatchery smolts 1998 2,995 14.5 328 — 2.8 1999 977 4.9 267 0.7 2.1 2000 950 7.3 377 0.7 1.9 2001 913 4.8 939 0.9 1.8 2002 835 5.4 886 0.4 1.3 All hatchery reared smolts are marked, either by clipping the adipose fin or with an internal coded wire tag and the adipose fin clipped.
The majority of wild smolts are released to sea, following counting, without marking.
§ Mr. DonaldsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many permits to fish for migrating fish in each of the stretches of the River Bush under the control of his Department were issued in each month in each of the last five years and to the end of May 2003; how many fish were(a) caught, (b) killed and (c) released; and what sums have been received in respect of such permits in each month.[121423]
§ Mr. PearsonData on salmon catches on each of the three premier stretches on the River Bush in each of the last five years and on day ticket sales are shown in the following tables:
Salmon catch Day ticket sales 1998 New stretch Town stretch Leap stretch New stretch Town stretch Leap stretch March 0 4 0 9 44 0 April 1 8 2 12 53 29 May 2 1 0 26 38 26 June 14 24 11 35 38 48 July 37 108 46 56 103 140 August 1 40 28 5 67 114 September 1 2 1 8 15 48 October 0 8 0 1 18 15
Salmon catch Day ticket sales 1999 New stretch Town stretch Leap stretch New stretch Town stretch Leap stretch March 0 3 0 11 67 2 April 1 1 0 15 58 23 May 0 3 0 10 30 22 June 5 10 5 32 39 22 July 17 43 6 L51 83 49 August 1 1 2 7 34 16 September 0 42 3 11 59 34 October 2 24 0 7 31 5 96W
Salmon catch Day ticket sales 2000 New stretch Town stretch Leap stretch New stretch Town stretch Leap stretch March 0 0 0 3 39 0 April 0 3 0 9 47 4 May 1 1 0 11 32 1 June 12 19 0 31 48 8 July 4 9 3 29 28 10 August 5 7 0 32 32 7 September 0 33 4 11 47 12 October 1 10 10 2 16 14
Salmon catch Day ticket sales 2001 New stretch Town stretch Leap stretch New stretch Town stretch Leap stretch March 0 0 0 0 3 0 April 0 0 0 0 0 0 May 0 0 0 0 0 0 June 11 15 0 24 20 0 July 20 47 7 45 58 8 August 1 44 14 20 64 40 September 2 2 1 8 36 13 October 0 8 2 6 31 16
Salmon catch Day ticket sales 2002 New stretch Town stretch Leap stretch New stretch Town stretch Leap stretch March 0 0 0 7 7 0 April 0 1 0 4 11 2 May 0 1 0 8 20 8 June 3 13 0 21 41 2 July 14 23 3 49 76 11 August 1 5 0 27 46 15 September 1 6 1 9 23 3 October 2 7 2 10 30 21
Salmon catch Day ticket sales 2003 New stretch Town stretch Leap stretch New stretch Town stretch Leap stretch March 0 0 0 0 0 0 April 0 0 0 0 0 0 May 0 0 0 0 0 0 June — — — — — — July — — — — — — August — — — — — — September — — — — — — October — — — — — — Catch and release was introduced in the 2002 and 2003 fishing seasons for the period 1 March to 31 May inclusive. The Department has no record of the numbers offish caught and released outside this period in 2002 or in earlier years.
Revenue from the sale of permits is collated on an annual rather than a monthly basis and is tabulated as follows:
£ Revenue 1998 20,858 1999 17,071 2000 11,659 2001 11,323 2002 11,991