There is a wide range of technical conservation measures already in place in Community waters generally, including the Irish Box. I would also stress that a number of specific technical conservation measures involving closed and restricted areas have been implemented in recent years in the context of various recovery plans for cod and hake stocks in the Irish Sea, the Celtic Sea and also in waters off the north-west coast of Ireland. Separate from the issue of the Irish Box, to which I will return later, the Commission has presented a proposal for a new Council Regulation providing for the incorporation of all existing technical conservation measures in a comprehensive package together with a number of new measures to further protect juvenile cod and hake stocks in particular. Commissioner Fischler gave a presentation on this subject at the Fisheries Council yesterday. My view is that the Commission's proposal is highly technical and we are now examining it in detail. In that regard, I have asked my Department to work closely with BIM, the Marine Institute and with industry representatives in developing our approach. In that context my Department has met the industry twice in the past two weeks to discuss the proposals.
As such measures would apply to all Community fishermen, the introduction of such measures would not of themselves reduce the entry of new fishing fleets into the Irish Box. In relation to the Irish Box issue specifically, Ireland's position is that the existing western waters regime remains in place unless otherwise decided by Council. The Commission has tabled a proposal involving the elimination of the Irish Box which is totally unacceptable to me. My position is that any new regime must provide for the establishment of the Irish Box as a sensitive zone, with specific effort allocations based on recent fishing effort history.
