Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 9 April 2024
987. Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to advise how much of the 1,874 tonne quota of spurdog that he announced in December 2022 was caught, landed and processed; to confirm what markets were identified for selling this species into; to confirm what processing facilities are available for spurdog landings; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14539/24]
View answerIreland's quota for Spurdog in 2023 was 1,871 tonnes, of which 420 tonnes was caught (approximately 22%).
The Spurdog stock was subject to high harvest rates for more than four decades, and fisheries were not managed during this time. The Spurdog fishery was re-opened in 2023, having been closed for over ten years to rebuild the stock.
In the past, the main market for Irish spurdog was the UK - almost all Irish landings of Spurdog were sent to the UK, where they were taken by primarily one processor. This market, and the associated processing capacity, has essentially lapsed.
BIM and Bord Bia have carried out an initial market investigation and, while this showed that there is now only a very limited market for this species, there are some opportunities on mainland Europe (Germany, France and Spain). The Irish processing sector has expressed an interest to BIM to explore what is needed in terms of processing techniques, capacity and product formats to service this market. BIM will work with processors in the coming months to explore this opportunity.
