Vol. 560 No. 1
117 Mr. Costello asked the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources when he expects to receive the report of the review of sea fishing vessel licence policy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1807/03]
I expect to receive the report of the sea-fishing boat policy licensing group by 30 June 2003. The review group can make interim recommendations at any stage on issues requiring urgent decisions.
The review group has made two conservation-related interim recommendations, which I have accepted. These are: first, that polyvalent boats not precluded from fishing for herring and/or mackerel but which did not fish for those species in 2002 or 2003 will not break the active pelagic requirement of fishing for either of those species for 16 weeks in each of four successive years; and, second, that polyvalent boat owners also have the option to have 2002 and 2003 included for the purposes of active pelagic track record, subject to their having fished for at least a minimum period of eight weeks in each of those years.
This is the first comprehensive review of licensing policy for more than a decade and there are many complex issues to be considered before substantive recommendations can be made for a reasonable number of years ahead.
Clarification is awaited in relation to decisions on the EU Common Fisheries Policy last month affecting some key issues which the review group has to address, notably regarding the permitted overall size, composition and capacity of the Irish sea-fishing boat fleet.
Given that the quota and tax negotiations have been completed, why do we not have the report? While my second question may cover some earlier ground, it is relevant to the new licensing regime. The Minister has admitted that area six of the Atlantic has been devastated because the British Government did not defend Scottish fishermen and the Minister himself did not defend our Donegal fishermen. Coastal communities such as Greencastle are facing an appalling future as a result of the Minister's incompetent negotiations and the seeding of area six. Fishermen are being restricted to nine days at sea, so will the new licensing regime take into account the fact that our fishermen will be at a disadvantage? They will be facing an enormous challenge in the Irish Box from a huge foreign fleet, so will the Minister be able to organise licensing policy in such a way as to remove these major disadvantages?
The time for this supplementary question has concluded.
The Minister refused to answer me when I asked him about a decision of the former Minister, Deputy Fahey, concerning a large trawler in the Donegal area, which apparently had a negative impact on the negotiations the Minister has just conducted. That decision may well have to be revisited because it was a bizarre one.
I do not accept the Deputy's contention concerning the discussions before December. At the Fisheries Council we achieved hake preferences and, in addition, we succeeded in defeating the proposal to make the entire Irish Sea and Celtic Sea up to Donegal subject to a days-at-sea limitation. The fact is that a relatively small area is affected within which only about 20 boats are affected, despite exaggerations the Deputy may have heard on the airwaves and which he has just repeated.
Has the Minister visited Greencastle?
The Deputy has not investigated the matter or, as far as I know, spoken to my officials—
Every day.
—to ask how this nine days at sea will affect fishermen. The 20 or so boats that are affected, out of the entire Irish fleet, have choices to make. They can make them because, based on their previous track record, quite a number of them will be able to fish for at least 25 days a month if they fish a particular species with a particular mesh size.
One of my first acts on taking up office was to put the licensing of fishing vessels on an independent basis. I established an interim appeals mechanism so that the designation of licences would be at arm's length from the Minister. The Deputy should compliment me on that.
Can the Minister orchestrate the licensing arrangements in a way which ensures smaller vessels or a large fleet of inshore vessels will be allowed to fish? New vessels with technical conservation measures would be of advantage to us in that they might keep the larger international fleets, which would not have the same rigging for such new measures, out of Irish waters. Has the Minister considered this in his negotiations and licensing arrangements?
Yes, those issues would have been considered, particularly in relation to protecting small inshore fishing boats of which a substantial number are unregulated. My officials and I have had discussions with the Commission on how we can address the matter so that we can get a greater number of unlicensed small inshore fishing boats registered with a record of active fishing. Those discussions are ongoing. We are also discussing the implications of that with fishing industry representatives. I take on board the Deputy's points.
