Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 29 March 2022
879. Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the amount of quota allocated to the Irish fishing fleet in the Norwegian EEZ under the Common Fisheries Policy, by species, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16286/22]
View answerQuotas for the various stocks are allocated for management areas - that is, an ICES (International Council for the Exploration of the Seas) area or a part thereof - and not Coastal States' EEZs. Generally, most stock areas straddle more than one EEZ area. These stock areas can include EU Member States' EEZs, third countries' EEZs and international waters.
The 1980 Agreement is the main bilateral agreement governing the EU's fisheries relations with Norway. It covers the North Sea, Skagerrak and the North East Atlantic and allows for the setting of Total Allowable Catches (TACs) for joint stocks, transfers of fishing possibilities, joint technical measures and issues relating to control and enforcement.
As a consequence of the UK's withdrawal from the EU, the UK is now an independent Coastal State. Therefore, in addition to the bilateral EU-Norway consultations, trilateral consultations between the EU, Norway and the UK take place to cover stocks shared by the three parties. The majority of stocks and fisheries which had been covered bilaterally under EU-Norway, now come under trilateral EU-Norway-UK joint management. Therefore, the EU-Norway consultations now focus on access to waters, exchange of fishing opportunities and setting Total Allowable Catches (TACs) for a limited number of stocks in the Skagerrak.
The Agreed Records of the EU-Norway and EU-Norway-UK fisheries arrangements for 2022 are available on the European Commission's website from the following links:
ec.europa.eu/oceans-and-fisheries/system/files/2021-12/2022-eu-norway-fisheries-consultations_en.pdf
ec.europa.eu/oceans-and-fisheries/system/files/2021-12/2022-eu-no-uk-fisheries-consultations_en.pdf
The main stocks of interest to Ireland which are covered by the arrangements with Norway are Arctic Cod (which is fished in Norwegian waters of ICES areas 1 and 2), Atlanto-Scandian herring which covers Norwegian, United Kingdom, Faroese, and international waters of ICES areas 1, 2 and 5. Also some widely distributed stocks such as Blue Whiting quota areas include Norwegian waters. The details of these quotas are set out in the TAC and Quota Regulation each year.
