Twenty-eight people drowned or were lost from fishing vessels off the Irish coast last year.

Of that number 18 were lost from vessels in Irish territorial waters and two were lost from Irish-registered vessels outside Irish waters, the Dail was told.

The Minister for the Marine, Mr Fahey, said of the 18 who died in Irish waters, six were lost from Irish-registered vessels while the remaining 12 were lost from a British-registered fishing vessel, which sank off the west coast of Ireland.

"While no precise records are available for crew losses from foreign flagged fishing vessels operating outside the territorial waters off the Irish coast, it is known that a further eight persons, one of whom was Irish, lost their lives in accidents involving such vessels in the year 2000," Mr Fahey said.

Labour's marine spokesman, Mr Michael Bell, described the number of deaths as the highest on record.

Mr Fahey said he was committed to ensuring the highest safety standards were maintained in the industry.

This could only be achieved through statutory regulation and enforcement, promotion of safety awareness and the highest-quality marine emergency services.

The Minister plans new legislation that will make the wearing of lifejackets mandatory.

The initiative for this "has been prompted by a number of recent incidents involving deaths of fishermen and others where such tragic outcomes could have been avoided if lifejackets had been worn".

Mr Fahey was concerned at the number of young people with no training who "come into the industry and go out to sea. I would strongly urge skippers not to employ people who have no training. There is no question that their abilities are impaired in difficult conditions."

Mr Fahey said, "since I have been in this job I have had occasion to visit a number of widows whose husbands were lost at sea. As one who knew little about fishing before I came into this job, it was a most difficult experience.

"Most Irish people do not understand the very difficult life of fishermen who have lost so many of their loved ones at sea. It is a very difficult situation that the rest of us take for granted."

Fine Gael's marine spokesman, Mr Paul Connaughton, welcomed the decision to introduce mandatory lifejacket wearing, but warned that the "worst thing that can happen is that we legislate for something without the necessary wherewithal to see it through".

The Minister accepted the point but said "we have to at least try to have this measure accepted, and avoid many drownings as a result of fishermen being swept overboard".

He said he would prefer to rely on persuasion and voluntary compliance "but that has not worked up to now. While we are under no illusions as to the difficulties with enforcing this mandatory rule, we hope making it mandatory will result in fishermen being fully aware of the need to wear these devices, which are new and lightweight."