Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 6 July 2021
597. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the status of the Agriculture and Fisheries Council 28-29 June 2021 regarding fisheries; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36314/21]
View answerAt the Agriculture and Fisheries Council held on 28th-29th June, Fisheries Ministers agreed on a general approach on the revision of the fisheries control system. In 2018, the Commission published a proposal to amend the fisheries Control Regulation. The proposal has been examined by both the European Parliament and the Council Working Party. The Parliament adopted its negotiating position on the proposal in March. Now that the Council has adopted its general approach on the proposal, trilateral negotiations between the Council, European Parliament and Commission will commence shortly.
The general approach agreed by Council takes on board a number of Ireland's key concerns, including retaining the derogation allowing for weighing of catch away from the quayside under certain conditions, including the application of a rigorous control plan. This derogation is an important issue for fishing processors in Ireland whose factories are located away from landing ports. As the Deputy will be aware, the Commission has revoked Ireland's current control plan and Ireland's control authority, the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority (SFPA), is preparing a new revised control plan for submission to the Commission.
The Commission also presented its annual communication on the state of play of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) and on fishing opportunities for 2022. This is the preliminary step in the annual process of setting Total Allowable Catches (TACs) for the following year. I made clear at Council that the disproportionate burden placed on Ireland in terms of quota loss under the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement must be addressed and that renegotiation of quota shares will be a priority for Ireland in the upcoming review of the CFP.
Other items on the Fisheries agenda included an update from the Commission on the implementation of the Maritime Spatial Planning Directive. The Commission also provided information on European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF) programming, focussing in particular on the added value of public investment in fisheries and aquaculture.
I also raised the issue of the recent unjustified, unilateral mackerel quota increases by Norway and the Faroes. In May 2021, Norway increased its share of the mackerel stock by 55% for 2021. The Faroes then mirrored this and increased its quota by 55%. Iceland continues to set an unacceptably high share of the mackerel stock.
Ireland is the EU's largest shareholder in the mackerel stock and the actions by Norway, Iceland and the Faroes are a matter of great concern as they threaten the sustainability of the stock.
I made clear to the Commissioner and fellow Fisheries Ministers that if these parties are unwilling to reverse their unilateral actions, then the EU must take strong action using all possible measures, including trade sanctions, to protect the sustainability of the mackerel stock and to protect the EU share of that stock.
