Vol. 481 No. 4
75 Mr. Bradford asked the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources the mechanism, if any, which exists to obtain the necessary tonnage to enable a sea fishing boat license to issue to an applicant (details supplied) in County Cork with reference to correspondence (details supplied); and the tonnage, if any, which is available directly from his Department. [16352/97]
Under European Union fleet policy the capacity of member states' fishing fleets is determined by decisions taken in the context of the multi annual guidance programmes for EU fishing fleets.
Against this background, sea-fishing boat licensing policy is designed to control entry to the fleet and requires that equivalent capacity must first be removed by the applicant from the Sea Fishing Boat Register before a new vessel may enter the fleet. This requirement was outlined to the applicant referred to in the question.
The Department does not maintain a "tonnage bank" as appears to be suggested by the Deputy's question. It is up to individual applicants to comply with the requirement in relation to tonnage replacement capacity which is a prerequisite for processing applications.
