Vol. 414 No. 4
40 Mr. G. O'Sullivan asked the Minister for the Marine if he intends providing joint fishery protection patrols with any other EC nation; if he has satisfied himself with the present situation; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Responsibility for enforcing Community regulations in regard to sea fishing is a matter for each member state in the waters under its jurisdiction. There are no powers under either national or Community law which could be availed of to transfer or share this legal responsibility with the enforcement service of another member state.
The granting to another member state of enforcement power such as the arrest and detention of fishing vessels operating within the Irish jurisdiction would represent a significant departure and raise serious legal and operational issues, and any proposal in this regard would have to be assessed very carefully.
I would stress, however, that member states may and do co-operate with each other in the exchange of information relating to fisheries surveillance. In this respect a meeting of experts in this area was called, on the basis of an Irish initiative, by the Commission last April to discuss unauthorised fishing activity in Community waters and procedures were put in place at this meeting to enhance co-operation between member states.
