Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 21 March 2017
1026. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his views on the figures highlighted in a presentation by an organisation (details supplied) with respect to Ireland's percentage area of EU waters and the percentage of fish caught and landed in Irish waters pre and post Brexit; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12965/17]
View answerIt is important to note that borders and maritime delineations are in the first instance a matter for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. However, I can provide you with our working figures for the purposes of preparing our analyses of the potential implications of Brexit for the Irish fishing industry.
Our figures show that the total EU Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) (200 miles) is 7,044,000 square kilometres. The Irish EEZ is 438,000 square kilometres; this amounts to 6.22% of the EU EEZ. The UK EEZ is 747,000 square kilometres, which is 10.6% of the EU EEZ. Once the UK leaves the EU, the total EU EEZ will be reduced to 6,297,000 square kilometres. The Irish share will then be 6.96% of the total EU EEZ.
EU landings from the Irish Zone account for 13% of the total EU landings from EU waters by volume and 13% by value. (excludes Med, Black Sea, Madeira and Azores). It is not possible to quantify exactly what the percentages would be post Brexit as this would depend upon a number of factors but indicative figures would be 18.9% and 16.5% respectively.
With regard to the figures provided by the organisation that the Deputy refers to, I can offer no comment as I have no knowledge as to how those figures were calculated. The figures I have quoted above and upon which we are basing our analyses were provided by the Marine Institute.
