Holly Cairns
Question:959. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the steps the Quota Management Advisory Committee is taking to avoid early closure of fisheries in 2022. [8026/22]
View answerTuesday, 15 February 2022
Questions (959)
Written answers
The Quota Management Advisory Committee (QMAC) is a formal consultative committee, involving fishing industry representatives from the catching and processing sectors. The Committee makes recommendations to me on monthly/bi-monthly/quarterly regimes for particular stocks and, as far as possible, I follow their recommendations for regimes for particular stocks, subject to the proper management and rational exploitation of our fisheries. Additional meetings are organised as required to discuss specific issues in particular fisheries that may arise.
Whitefish (Demersal) Quotas are generally managed on a monthly basis with catch limits being set for each month.
The QMAC operate by examining in detail the operation of each fishery, uptake patterns and available quota for the different metiers of fishing vessels. There are detailed discussions on allocations, often taking account of the divergent situation of the fleet and of the market. The QMAC may also take account of the weather/sea conditions in the preceding quota period and the impact this may have had on the industry during that period. It also has the possibility of recommending to me additional catch limits to incentivise the introduction of environmentally friendly fishing gear in particular fisheries or for particular types of vessels.
A key objective of whitefish quota management is the avoidance of very early closure of fisheries through rapid exhaustion of quota. This is particularly important because our whitefish fisheries are mixed and an early closure would impact on other fisheries where there would be a potential by-catch of such stocks and would undermine the effective implementation of the landing obligation which prohibits discarding of fish at sea. Monthly Fishery Management Notices, signed by me, support the management of Ireland’s fisheries and are published on the Department’s website: gov.ie - Fisheries Management Notices 2022 (www.gov.ie). Pelagic stocks are managed on a monthly, seasonal or yearly basis in accordance with Ministerial Management Policy for each individual stock.
My Department carryout quota swaps with other EU Member States with the objective to fully maximise, wherever possible, fishing opportunities for Ireland’s fishing sector and ensuring the avoidance of early closure of fisheries. Each swap proposal is considered on a case-by-case basis by my Department taking into account the views and recommendation of the QMAC and taking into account ratios and market prices to ensure all agreed swaps are equitable.
Quotas are swapped on a temporary basis but continuously repeated yearly exchange is also possible. Ireland has long established relationships with a number of EU member states where certain swaps are carried out on a yearly basis, provided Ireland has sufficient quota available for the stock for the area.