Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 13 January 2021
1150. Deputy Noel Grealish asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the criteria used to give priority to 140 fishing boats to fish in UK waters from the 1 January 2021 over the 1,900 Irish registered fishing boats; the reason these boats were chosen; if all fishing boats were considered equally; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1474/21]
View answer1152. Deputy Noel Grealish asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the reason first preference was given to priority pelagic vessels tier 1 and tier 2 and vessels in relevant POs to fish in UK fishing waters given that POs only represent a minority of Irish fishing boats; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1476/21]
View answer1169. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the objective basis or criteria by which boats were selected for the revised list sought by the European Union for permission to access and fish in UK waters; the processes that were followed in drawing up this list; if these consultations involved bodies outside of his Department; the timeframe involved in this process; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1559/21]
View answer1170. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the producer and other groups that were consulted when the revised list was been drawn up to be submitted by the EU for permission to fish in UK waters; the consideration that was given to boats that are not members of producer groups; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1560/21]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 1150, 1152, 1169 and 1170 together.
Within the terms of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement between the EU and UK, access arrangements are set out in Article 8 Fish. This Article sets out: provided that TACs have been agreed, each Party shall grant vessels of the other Party access to fish in its waters in the relevant ICES sub-areas that year. Access shall be granted at a level and on conditions determined in those annual consultations. In relation to the main access arrangements, the Agreement also provides that the outcome of the consultations should normally result in each Party granting:
(a) access to fish stocks listed in the Annex to the Agreement - these are the stocks that are shared between the EU and UK subject to at a level that is reasonably commensurate with the parties respective shares of the TACs;
(b) access to fish non- quota stocks in each other's EEZ at a level that at least equates to the average tonnage fished by that Party in the waters of the other Party during the period 2012-2016; and
(c) access to waters of the Parties between 6 and 12nm in ICES divisions 4c (southern North Sea and 7d-g (English Channel, south - west coast of England and part of south - east coast of Ireland) to the extent that Union fishing vessels and UK fishing vessels had access to these waters on 31 December 2020.
I have asked my Department to work to ensure that fishing vessels which traditionally fished in UK waters will be granted such access by the UK authorities.
While authorisation for access for all licensed and registered fishing vessels has been sought from the UK authorities, at this time approval has been granted to tranches of fishing vessels which have been identified as requiring such access.
The UK Authorities authorised access on a staged basis initially on 31 December for 141 vessels which were identified, in consultation with the Producer Organisations, taking into account vessels that were most likely to fish in the first week of January. The vessels were identified in the days before the end of the year taking into account the Department's understanding of the fisheries and in consultation with the four Producer Organisations (Killybegs Fishermen's Organisation, Irish Fish Producers Organisation, Irish South & East Fish Producers Organisation and the Irish South & West Fish Producers Organisation).
In relation to vessels targeting mackerel in the RSW Pelagic segment and in the Polyvalent segment, these were specifically identified because mackerel is fished only in UK waters at the start of the year. In addition for the first tranche of 141 vessels, I understand that the POs identified vessels in their organisations which they were aware of as likely to fish in the start of the year in UK waters.
Since the 31st December 2020, two further lists of Irish vessels have been sent to the Commission to request authorisation, by the UK authorities, for these vessels to fish in the 12- 200 nm UK EEZ based on licence holders who contacted the Department seeking such access and those that had fished in UK waters in 2019 or 2020 based on relevant records. A further 48 vessels have now been authorised by the UK authorities and the Department has been advised by the Commission that the second list of 20 vessels has already been transmitted to the UK authorities and is hoping to hear shortly regarding the status of this request. The Department is considering how smaller fishing vessels that do not have a Vessel Monitoring System to record activity maybe appropriately identified and will be consulting the National Inshore Fisheries Forum in that regard.
