THE Marine Institute's chief executive, Dr Peter Heffernan, has welcomed the publication of two independent reports the institute commissioned on the sampling procedures and monitoring protocols of sea trout stocks.
The independent report, by Dr Ian Cowx, University of Hull International Fisheries Institute, found unacceptably high margins of error in sea trout monitoring programmes over the period 1992-1996.
Mr Heffernan said Dr Cowx's analysis suggested "the high level of uncertainty in the data source" made it unsafe to rely on it to formulate theories on the sea trout issue.
He said the Cowx report was itself subject to the most rigorous scrutiny by the Centre for Marine Science and Technology at the University of Massachusetts, which said it responded to the terms of reference in a fair and unbiased manner.
Dr Heffernan said the Marine Institute only became operationally involved in the sea trout issue with the transfer of the Department of the Marine's Fisheries Research Centre (FRC).