Vol. 500 No. 3
21 Mr. Spring asked the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources if he has received any complaints or inquires from the EU Commission concerning breaches of EU fishing regulations by Irish-flagged vessels; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3817/99]
Under the relevant EU Regulations, the monitoring inspection and control of fishing activity is first and foremost the responsibility of the member states. The Commission is responsible for ensuring and verifying that member states carry out those legal obligations in an equitable and effective manner. The Commission carries out verifications of member states' controls through on-the-spot inspections and cross-checking of databases on vessels, catches and landings. The Commission can also request member states to provide information on specific matters relating to fishing activity of its vessels or other aspects of the control regulation.
The Commission undertakes a number of inspections each year of Irish fisheries monitoring and control in Irish ports and at sea. Ireland has also complied with requests by the Commission for information on mackerel and horsemackerel catches, landings and exports which were also addressed to a number of other member states. The Commission is currently in correspondence with Ireland and other member states with queries about the possible overfishing by fishing vessels in 1995 and 1996 on several quota species, where there are technical differences between quota utilisation figures adduced by the Commission and those of member states.
My Department co-operates with the Commission in supplying data on request and facilitating inspections and the Commission itself acknowledges this. I fully expect other member states to be equally co-operative with the Commission to ensure a level playing field across the EU in fisheries control.
