Vol. 516 No. 4
21 Mr. J. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources the gross registered tonnage of the beamer segment of the Irish fleet in each of the years from 1994 to 1999; and the requirement, if any, for boats which are beam trawling for a period of the year using polyvalent licences to have purchased beamer tonnage before fishing as beamers. [8221/00]
The capacity of the beam trawler segment of the Irish fishing fleet, as expressed in gross registered tonnage, was 1,114 GRT in each of the years 1994 to 1997. The capacity fell to 916 GRT in 1998 when one of the vessels in the segment was removed from the fishing vessel register, but increased again to 1,116 GRT in 1999 when the replacement vessel was registered.
It is a central requirement of fishing vessel licensing policy that a licence will be granted for the introduction of a vessel into the fleet only if the licence applicant removes from the fishing vessel register tonnage and engine power equal to the tonnage and engine power of the vessel to be introduced. It is also a requirement that the capacity to be removed from the register must come from the fleet segment into which it is proposed to introduce the new vessel.
A licence applicant proposing to introduce into the polyvalent segment a vessel fishing for part of the time by means of beam trawls, is required to remove from that segment the appropriate proportion of tonnage and engine power with an active history of fishing by means of beam trawls. Any such proposals are, however, very rigorously assessed to ensure that a sustainable balance is maintained between fishing effort by means of beam trawls and the targeted stocks.
