Vol. 516 No. 4
19 Mr. Finucane asked the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources the status of technical conservation measures, including closing down certain fisheries to conserve stocks and increasing mesh sizes, which have been accepted by his predecessor and for which there was commitment to seek EU support for the initiative. [7906/00]
I will be pursuing as a priority at EU level the case for a range of additional technical conservation measures which have been recommended by the national CFP strategy review group in consultation with fishermen on the ground. I am firmly committed to advancing the conservation imperative at EU level with the full support of the Irish fishing industry.
I will meet Commissioner Fischler on 28 March to outline my policy priorities, including the need for improved technical conservation measures. In that regard, the collective experience to date this year of the Irish sea cod recovery programme will help to inform the development of an appropriate overall framework for closed boxes areas and seasons.
The Minister of State indicated that conservation is extremely important and is obviously aware that these technical conservation measures are favoured by fishermen themselves. However, Irish fishermen want the measures to be imposed at EU level. Is he concerned about the practice of gill netting, often in spawning grounds, whereby foreign fishermen shoot out up to 40 miles of gill netting which they leave in place for long periods of time? A Spanish fisherman, who did not wish to be identified, recently indicated that the nets were left in place over the Christmas period and that fishermen returned to find that many of the fish had rotted. This type of netting is raping fish stocks and should be banned at EU level.
As usual, the Deputy is very up to date. We are obviously concerned about practices such as gill netting. The identity of the people who are misbehaving in this area is common knowledge. I assure the Deputy that when the Minister and I meet with Commissioner Fischler on 28 March, we will strongly convey his concerns and those of people in the industry to ensure that a degree of balance is achieved which will provide for conservation, allow Irish fishermen to compete and prevent the raping of fish stocks by bigger trawlers. It is in all our interests that there would be consistency throughout the EU and further afield in this regard.
The fishermen's organisations support conservation and the preservation of fish stocks on a long-term basis. When positive proposals are forthcoming from that sector which is affected by any type of conservation proposal, the issue must be considered realistically. The point has been made to me on many occasions that any decision on spawning or breeding grounds must be made at EU level. I respect the Minister of State's intentions in regard to his meeting on 28 March and I hope he will be successful.
I believe that fishermen themselves should become involved in policing and I will be asking them to do that. Deputies will be aware that getting fishermen to agree to the necessity for conservation represented a major step forward and I commend them on their responsible approach. It is incumbent on us to ensure that the conservation issue can be progressed with the involvement of all European countries. A large number of ships would be required to police our waters and perhaps we should pursue the idea of fishermen taking on a policing role and reaching agreement between themselves. Although we cannot impose that, it may be possible to achieve through a gentlemen's agreement.
Written Answers follow Adjournment Debate.
