Vol. 482 No. 7
3 Mr. Finucane asked the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources the progress, if any, he has made in negotiations with the United Kingdom regarding greater control and monitoring of the flags of convenience ships registered in the United Kingdom, most of which fish in Irish registered waters. [19194/97]
It is a key priority of mine to ensure that all fishing vessels, including flag ships, fishing in our waters are strictly monitored and controlled both at sea and in port. I am also pressing other member states to play their part in controlling the activities and landings of flag ships.
Virtually all flagships operating in Irish waters are registered in the UK. It follows that effective co-operation from the UK authorities is essential for Ireland as the coastal State directly concerned. We have a good level of liaison and co-operation on control matters and Department officials meet their UK counterparts regularly to maintain and enhance that co-operation. I will be meeting Minister Cunningham within the next few weeks to review a range of fisheries issues of bilateral concern, including flag ships.
In addition to building on existing co-operation with the UK as the flag state concerned, I am also pressing the Spanish authorities to improve significantly the policing of landings by flag ships into their ports. As the Deputy is aware the landing pattern of flag ships poses particular enforcement problems. I met Minister Palacio in Vigo last September and I am confident that our ongoing bilateral discussions and contacts with the Spanish authorities will produce results in terms of improved control.
I am also pushing in Europe for demonstrable commitment by all member states to delivering effective control of fishing activity. When I met Commissioner Bonino in July I stressed the urgent need for the Commission to bring forward new proposals aimed at enhancing control measures for flag ships in particular. I will be pressing Minister Cunningham, as incoming Chairman of the Council of Fisheries Ministers, and Commissioner Bonino to ensure that these proposals are expedited.
I am also pleased to report that at last month's fisheries council meeting I won agreement to a package of measures which will significantly enhance Ireland's ability to act against illegal fishing by flag ships and other vessels in our waters. In addition to new conservation measures to protect juvenile stocks, member states agreed to the introduction from July next year of "real time" catch reporting by fishing boats entering and leaving Irish waters. Up to now boats had to report their exit and entry, but not the quantities of fish on board. This agreement will be a vital additional weapon in the monitoring and detection of over fishing and illegal catching in the Irish zone.
The Minister used the words "monitoring" and "enforcement" and these are valid. I remind him, however, that the Fianna Fáil and Progressive Democrats Party programme for Government spoke about seeking the banning of flags of convenience fishing vessels from Irish waters. How successful has the Minister been in trying to achieve this objective? As an objective I am sure it gained many votes for the Minister's party from fishermen. Indeed, it was backed by one of the fishery organisations.
Regarding his statement on juvenile fish, does the Minister feel this will conteract the situation that exists where the Spanish are allowing under size fish to be landed? These fish are landed from Irish water and the Spanish still have secret compartments to hide them. Can the Minister see the controls he envisages in Spanish ports counteracting the illicit activities of Spanish fishermen?
The 150 flag ships operating in Irish waters and registered in the UK are catching fish which would be valuable to our fishermen. While those fish form part of the quota of the UK, the host country, they are ripping out our fishing stocks. We are hearing the same type of buzz words used in July when the Minister was questioned by Deputy Barrett. Following his talks with Mr. Cunningham and the Spanish Minister, can the Minister assure us that he will achieve his objective of banning the flags of convenience fishing vessels from Irish waters?
As I said in my reply, there were two very significant developments at the Luxembourg council meeting a fortnight ago. Because they are so recent and occurred close to the same time of the general election, there has not been much coverage of these developments. However, they are highly significant in the context of flag ships entering Irish waters. The Deputy is correct when he says UK flag ships are legitimately fishing for UK quotas in our waters, but the problem is that in our view they are over fishing and are taking more than they are reporting.
At an early stage I set about getting approval for the concept of a weighbridge in the sea whereby flag ships on entering and leaving our waters would have to report their catch. At present they only have to report that they are entering and leaving our waters. It is highly significant that from 1 July 1998 they will have to report the quantities of fish they have on board on entering and leaving our waters. They can be inspected at any time on the basis of those records. This will provide a very tight and greatly improved control.
Secret compartments are a separate matter and must be discovered. Even without secret compartments, a vessel could enter Irish waters claiming to have a certain tonnage on board and that in our waters it collected a relatively small quantity, thereby taking far more than the quota allocated. Our intention was to stop that activity and introduce a method of assessing catches.
When I had ministerial responsibility for this area in the early 1990s I visited Howth Harbour where a young fisherman displayed an idea he had for a square mesh window at a certain point in the top of the nets as a means of conservation and letting juvenile fish escape. I presented this idea to the Department and requested studies on it. The report of these studies showed the concept to be highly successful. At the Luxembourg meeting I was able to get agreement to this upper square mesh window which is very effective in dealing with the problem of juvenile fish. Those at the meeting, including the Spanish, agreed that this should become mandatory, starting with prawns and then other species. The people whom the Deputy and I speak to on the quayside are those who know the business and it is significant that the idea of a young fisherman has been adopted as an EU wide measure of conservation which will achieve one of the outcomes the Deputy is looking for. I will be interested to see it in practice from next July and I am assured it will be effective.
