Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 9 May 2017
519. Deputy Catherine Connolly asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the way in which his Department can reconcile the policy stated in Fisheries Quota Management in Ireland (details supplied) with its implementation, which is allowing quotas to be concentrated in the hands of large fishing companies, the owners of which have the financial resources to buy up such rights; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21519/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs the Deputy is aware, it is long-standing Government policy that fishing quotas are a national asset and the responsibility for the administration of quota rests with the Minister alone. In Ireland, quota is managed to ensure that property rights are not granted to individual operators.
While Individual Transferable Quotas (ITQ’s) which permits the transfer/ sale of quotas may work for some Member States, it would not work for Ireland where we have a network of small rural coastal communities dependant on our fishing fleet, large and small, demersal and pelagic. The Irish fishing fleet is for the most part made up of family owned vessels with strong links to their home ports. These families have a long tradition in fishing with generations succeeding each other into the industry.
I have no doubt that if ITQs were put in place, our quotas both whitefish and pelagic would be purchased by large European fishing conglomerates, with no socio or economic links to our ports, and landed elsewhere, with the resultant loss of jobs and economic activity around our coast. For Ireland, this scenario would wipe out our fishing industry and we will would not get the benefit from the rich fisheries resources in the waters around our coasts. The issue of mandatory ITQs formed a part of the EU Commission proposal for the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy in 2011. This proposal was rejected following a strong case made by Ireland that management of quotas should be a matter of national competence.
To put in perspective much of the employment on shore in the seafood sector is generated by landings to Ireland by Irish vessels of all sizes. This activity delivers approximately 3,200 jobs in our fleet, with another 3,800 employed in our processing plants with additional employment in ancillary support industries. These jobs are totally dependent on Irish quotas being landed into Irish ports and any change to this would seriously jeopardise the ongoing viability of these jobs with disastrous consequences.
The result of Ireland's long standing policy is that the Irish fishing fleet involves a balanced spread of sizes and types of fishing vessels who have retained a strong economic link with our coastal communities and have delivered economic activity including vital employment in these communities, where there are very limited alternative economic activities.
