Thomas Pringle TD
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PRINGLE WELCOMES REPORT ON SUSTAINING RURAL COASTAL AND ISLAND COMMUNITIES

Inis Oír report launch on sustaining rural, coastal & island communities 14.1.14

 

Thomas Pringle TD has welcomed the report launched today on how rural, coastal and island communities can be sustained and developed into the future.

Speaking at the launch in Inis Oírr, the Independent TD for Donegal stated: “The report was initiated after the sub-Committee on Fisheries, of which I am a member, heard from the Aranmore Island fishermen on the difficulties they are facing in maintaining their traditional fisheries, particularly after the ban on drift netting that ended the salmon fishery for inshore fishermen. These problems are something I am only too familiar with in my constituency of Donegal.

“With 29 substantive recommendations, the sub-Committee has identified the current socio-economic situation in rural, coastal and island communities, and examined how government policy can be enhanced to foster alternative industries and services for such communities.

“Of particular interest is the recommendation on the introduction of a heritage license that would be for inshore and island fishermen and take account of their traditional fishing methods and lifestyle. The report also contains a number of recommendations which places special regard on the need to assess socio-economic impacts in relation to the measuring of statistics in coastal communities that would make measuring the impact of policy changes easier.

“The implementation of an adequate fish counting system on our rivers to provide full data on returning salmon stocks to assist in the scientific measurement is another recommendation which I welcome. Additionally, the report calls for consideration of a pilot programme that would see a limited return of drift netting for salmon as part of the scientific data collection, to fully and to everyone’s satisfaction assess the state of the wild salmon stock. This would be for a limited period of say two to three years.

While I welcome these recommendations, it is vital that we pave the way for implementation to ensure that our rural, coastal and island communities are able to thrive,” stated Pringle.

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