Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 28 January 2021
328. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will address a matter (details supplied) regarding inshore fishermen; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4693/21]
View answerIn 2019, the National Inshore Fisheries Forum brought forward the first industry-led Strategy for the Irish Inshore Fisheries Sector and is currently in the process of implementing the Strategy with support from BIM, my Department and other agencies. This Strategy flowed from an extensive consultation process that engaged the inshore sector itself as well as other stakeholders. The Programme for Government - Our Shared Future, specifically sets the aim of supporting the inshore sector to establish a Producer Organisation to generate greater marketing and promotional capacity. My Department currently has two applications on hand for producer organisations for the inshore sector.
Under the Common Fisheries Policy, access is permitted between the 12 and 200 miles zones to all EU waters subject to a Member State having quota to fish for the stocks in a specific area. Fishing vessels, irrespective of size, must comply with the rules of the CFP, which include rules in relation to access and catch limits/quota.
In 2003, the EU Council established a Biologically Sensitive Area (BSA) off the south west of Ireland and established a specific fishing effort regime inside the BSA limiting the level of fishing activity by all EU Member States for whitefish, scallop and crab fisheries. The BSA covers mainly waters inside Ireland’s 200 mile zone off the south and south west coast. Under this regime, Ireland, France, Belgium, Spain, Germany and the UK are given access to fish in these waters subject to the limit of the time limit (days at sea) set down in the Regulation. The limit is monitored by each Member State and uptake is reported to the EU Commission.
These measures are due to be reviewed by the end of 2022. This is the same timeframe as the review of the Common Fisheries Policy and it is likely to be linked with that review.
The Marine Institute, with EU funding, has commissioned a study of the utility, functioning and effectiveness of the BSA which will feed into Ireland’s input into the review of the Common Fisheries Policy. The study will review evidence supporting the BSA, and how fisheries have behaved since its implementation. It will capture information from a variety of data sources, including European commercial fishing activity and species-specific life history distributions to determine whether it has had a detectable impact on wild fish stocks within the Celtic Seas region. The review is expected to be completed by mid 2021. This work may help inform the review planned for the BSA by the end of 2022 and may also help inform the Government's commitment for the introduction of Marine Protected Areas.
