§ David BurnsideTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what progress has been made regarding the buy-out of salmon nets in Northern Ireland's river estuaries. [178622]
§ Angela SmithThe Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure has spent just over £1.1 million on the buy-out of 27 owners of commercial salmon nets with the potential to operate 49 commercial salmon nets in the Fisheries Conservancy Board (FCB) area. This represents an 87.5 per cent. reduction in the potential number of commercial nets available to fish in the FCB area. The 10-year average number of salmon taken by these nets was 9,800 out of a 10-year average declared commercial catch of between 10,000–11,000 salmon.