Minister for the Marine Noel Dempsey and Minister of State for the Marine John Browne have announced major funding increases for key policy areas in the 2007 Estimates.
With regard to Inland Fisheries, Browne said: "Although only €10 million is provided in the Estimates to implement the hardship fund for fishermen affected by the cessation of drift-netting, the Government has committed to establishing a total hardship fund of over €25 million. An additional €5 million will be available for a community support scheme.
"I have also committed to enhancing the funding available to our fisheries boards for enforcement to ensure that the salmon stocks we are trying to rebuild are not unlawfully taken. I am confident this increased funding will be reflected in the Revised Estimates,"the Minister added.
• Tributes were flowing in Toddy's Bar in the Gresham Hotel last Friday week as a large gathering assembled to pay tribute to Peter Green on his retirement as sea-angling officer with the central fisheries board.
Friends and colleagues praised his dedicated service to sea angling throughout his 34 years' service, and attested to by the number of charter skippers who travelled long distances to say "thanks" for a job well done.
Perhaps his greatest contribution to the development of sea angling in Ireland relates to the tagging programme. Here, Peter was instrumental in setting up a national tagging programme for shark and tope, which today is the envy of Europe.
An example of his tagging scheme relates to charter skipper Nick Dent, operating out of Baltimore, who in 2001 tagged a blue shark that was recaptured 700 miles south of Newfoundland in 2004. The fish had travelled some 2,400 miles and was at liberty for 844 days. I understand from his angling colleague, Norman Dunlop, that the tagging programme will be continued.
Although born in Ballycotton, Peter spent most of his young life in Kinsale, where his mother, Peggy, ran the Kinsale Angling Centre for 25 years. At that time, Kinsale was world-renowned for its superb shark angling.
Well-wishers on the night from the Central Fisheries Board, included: John O'Connor, CEO; David Mackey, chairman; Dr Trevor Champ, fisheries biologist; Norman Dunlop, sea angling officer; Orla Woods, Bord Fáilte and Liam Kane, angler.
I would like to offer my best wishes to Peter and his wife, Eleanor, for a healthy and enjoyable retirement.
• Proposals for Ireland's first marine graduate school took a step closer to becoming a reality last month thanks to funding of €60,000 from the Marine Institute and Irish Council for Science Engineering and Technology (IRCSET).
The exploratory grant to a consortium of third-level research and education centres will examine options for a multidisciplinary and inter-institutional marine graduate school granting awards to the PhD level.
The ultimate objective of the college is to improve the quality of graduate education in Ireland and to match future demands by academia to support the development of Ireland's marine resource.
One of 22 exploratory grants awarded by IRCSET and the Irish Research Council for Humanities and Social Studies, the call to interested parties attracted 73 applications.
• Two Cardiff men arrested last Thursday in connection with salmon fishing offences were reported by a member of the public fishing on the left bank of the River Taff at Blackweir in south Wales. Fisheries officers from Environment Agency Wales arrived and found two men with four hen salmon in their possession. The men were arrested and taken to Cardiff Central Police Station.
"The loss of four hen salmon has a significant effect on the restoration of the Taff as a migratory fishery. The river now has salmon throughout its entire length for the first time in over 200 years," said Taff manager, John Harrison.
• Earlier reports of ray from the beach at Arklow, Co Wicklow, failed to materialise for a group from The Irish Times last Saturday week. There was some consolation for the 10 hardy anglers, however, with lots of small whiting, codling, pouting, dabs and dogfish.