Bernard J. Durkan
Question:140 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources his plans to protect and augment fish stocks; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13889/04]
View answerWednesday, 12 May 2004
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The Common Fisheries Policy, CFP, is the legislative framework for fisheries policies to be implemented by the EU over the next ten years. This framework provides for the conservation and rational exploitation of fisheries resources through a range of instruments such as total allowable catches, or TACs, recovery plans and technical conservation measures. Effective conservation measures will help to provide for the sustainable exploitation of fish stocks into the future.
Ireland has been at the forefront at EU level in pushing for enhanced technical conservation measures to protect fish stocks. This issue was addressed in detail at a ministerial and stakeholders' conference on fast tracking the development of environmentally friendly fishing methods which I hosted in early March. The overriding consensus at this conference was that better and smarter fishing and the development of environmentally friendly fishing methods has a critical role to play in the fishing industry going forward. I intend, as President of the Council of Fisheries Ministers, to make significant progress on this issue during Ireland's Presidency of the EU.