TAGS & QUOTAS - FISSTA STILL AWAIT CONFIRMATION LETTER FROM MINISTER ON THEIR AGREEEMENT

To clarify the present position - FISSTA are still in the middle of a protest campaign against tagging until further notice.

The FISSTA Executive still await the Mininster's confirmation to their February negotiations following the recommendations from the National Salmon Commission (NSC) which are on the Ministers desk now for well over a month. Indeed, another NSC meeting has taken place since and placed more reccommendations for his consideration regarding the buyout or setaside of driftnets. For too long the NSC was teh impediment to any progress by failing to make any worthwhile deliberations for the Minister to consider, now FISSTA are pleased to report that the NSC now under the chaairmanship of Joey Murrin seems to be a different entity in that teh MInister now has the advice he sought on his table after 2 meetings. This equips the Minister with all he needs to make a strong commitment to buyout the nets - especially the driftnets. All that remains is for him to announce the amount of funding he is prepared to allocate the North Atlantic Salmon Fund under the Chairmanship of Orri Vigfusson so that he can get on with the job. We look forward to an early announcement so that our delgates to NASCO in Spain will have a positive message to bring with them.