Vol. 557 No. 4
127 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources his views on the contention by fishery organisations which calculate the EU boats every year have taken ?2.5 billion worth of fish from Irish waters; and the arguments which will be used to ensure the Irish Box is protected and fish stocks allowed to recover. [22416/02]
The Common Fisheries Policy does not operate on the basis of national zones. The legal position within the European Community, since the mid 1970s is that all waters within 200 mile coastal zones are regarded, for fisheries purposes, as "Community waters". National 200 mile limits are, therefore, not used as a basis for compiling fisheries statistics or stock assessments. Catch statistics are com piled by all EU member states based on the statistical zones defined by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea. These zones do not correspond to national waters or zones of economic interest but reflect the actual distribution of fisheries resources.
The basis for firm estimates of the quantity and value of catches within the Irish 200 mile zone is not therefore currently available. The sea area defined by Irish 200 mile limit is encompassed within ICES zones VI and VII but these zones extend to a geographic area far larger than the Irish 200 mile limit. Some 40% of all catches in EU Atlantic waters come from ICES areas VI and VII and the proportion of these made in the Irish 200 mile limit can be estimated. This estimate relies on a number of assumptions about the percentage of each fleet's catch in ICES zones VI and VII which can be attributed to the Irish 200 mile limit and also on factors such as the number of vessels of all member states fishing in Ireland's 200 mile limit; the percentage of allocated quotas which each state takes in the 200 mile limit; the non-quota stocks taken in the 200 mile limit; the catch per unit effort for the various fleets; and information from inspections of log books and landing declarations of vessels. On this basis, my Department estimates that the value of the annual catch of Irish and other fleets in the Irish 200 mile limit is €1 billion. In 2001 the total catches landed by Irish boats was valued at over €250 million.
In relation to the Irish Box, I am of the view that the provisions which govern conservation in this area should continue after the end of 2002. It is clear that the Commission has been of the same opinion in so far as it did not envisage an end to the western waters regime in its Green Paper on CFP reform or in the proposals for reform introduced in June 2002.
The legal opinion received from Council Legal Service at the end of October is contrary to the Commission and Ireland's previous view on this issue and in my view is incomplete and flawed. The Council Legal Service advice provides that the western waters regime expires as from 31 December 2002. I will mount a strong challenge to this position based on the legal advice received by my Department. I emphasised to Commissioner Fischler at our recent meeting that the waters within the Irish Box are very sensitive and play an important role as nursery grounds for stocks in western waters and beyond. I will continue in the coming weeks to work to have Ireland's position on this issue fully understood by my colleagues at Council in order that they will be fully informed when this issue is considered by Council in the coming weeks.
