Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 30 July 2020
926. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the environmental, social and economic criteria used by Ireland for allocating fishing quota Article 17 of the Common Fisheries Policy; and the process for weighting or prioritising the criteria. [20133/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraIn Ireland, fish quotas are a public resource owned by the State and are made available to fishing vessels based on an overall policy framework which has been developed over the past 30 years. The key commercial whitefish quotas (cod, haddock, monk, hake etc) are managed on a monthly basis with maximum catch limits set for vessels. Pelagic stocks such as mackerel and herring are managed on an annual or seasonal basis with catch limits set based on allocation regimes developed over many years and primarily related to historical catch records.
The allocations are not owned by the vessel and when an allocation is not fished, it can not be transferred to another boat but is returned to the State for redistribution to the fleet in the normal way. The substantial advantage from a macro perspective of these arrangements is that it retains an Irish owned and operated fleet which makes the bulk of its landings to Irish ports and bases its operations in Ireland. If the fleet were not Irish owned, there would be a rapid concentration of ownership in a small number of international companies which are not likely to operate from Ireland and may not have any commercial links with Ireland.
It is worth noting that within the EU, most quota systems have been privatised for their main commercial stocks. In the UK for example, the bulk of quotas available to England have been purchased by international companies with limited connections to their coastal communities. In Ireland, it has been long standing policy to ensure that our quotas are not privatised and this has been a policy of Governments over the decades. The result of this 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.
Ireland has strongly supported the introduction of more selective fishing gear to reduce catches of juvenile fish and unwanted by-catches. Fishing gear trials in our main fisheries have been carried out in collaboration with our fishing sector. A number of changes to fishing gear and practices which demonstrate improved selectivity have been adopted at EU level following recommendations from the North West Waters Member States Group (Ireland is a key player in this Group) and most recently as part of the TAC and quota Regulation adopted in December 2020. These measures support building more sustainable fishing practices in the waters around Ireland.
In addition, national measures are adopted from time to time, informed by the experiences of our fisheries, most recently the setting of a minimum mesh size for our important nephrops fishery and setting conditions for gear used in this fishery that are additional to measures adopted at EU level.
From time to time, the quota system is used to incentivise the introduction of environmentally friendly fishing gear in particular fisheries or for particular types of vessels usually in advance of seeking to implement change at EU level.
In addition, Ireland has introduced a ban on trawl fishing inside its 6 nautical mile zone. These measures aim to provide ecosystem benefits, including for nursery areas and juvenile fish stocks. They are also intended to facilitate the further sustainable development of the small scale inshore and the sea-angling sectors which strongly rely on inshore waters
The Quota Management Advisory Committee (QMAC) takes into account the importance of supporting the landing obligation in the allocation of quotas. The recommendations for allocations for each period for by-catch stocks for the Irish fleet are aimed at the catch composition in our mixed fisheries.
National Policy for Quota Balancing has been put in place for pelagic and demersal stocks. Where a vessel exceeds its catch limit for a relevant pelagic or demersal stock, a balancing adjustment is made from future allocations of fishing opportunities. Furthermore, where a vessel has reported landings of a pelagic stock for which it does not hold a valid authorisation/notification at the time of the fishing operation, such landings will be subject to quota balancing and a balancing adjustment is made from a future allocation of a fishing opportunity.
In terms of economic criteria, demersal fisheries catch limits generally take account of the length of fishing vessels with large vessels being allocated double that of smaller fishing vessels; the market situation for fish; and in certain fisheries the allocation takes into account the type of fishing gear deployed. In pelagic fisheries, allocations take account of historic activity for the relevant fleet segment. Within these allocations, it has regard for the length of fishing vessels and or the historic fishing pattern of the vessels in the segment.
BIM, Ireland’s seafood development agency, carries out the socio-economic assessment to examine the potential effects of the annual fishing opportunities proposal. The assessment is carried out on a stock by stock basis as well as a regional analysis of fishery areas. The methodology of the assessment utilises data that is collected nationally within the EU and so allows timely estimation of possible social impacts as a result of changes in total allowable catches that could affect national fishing fleets and fishing dependent communities. The assessment also covers the potential social impacts that can extend to a broad set of characteristics such as employment, wages and downstream impacts at a regional level.
The Irish fish quota management system is designed to ensure, having regard to fishing patterns and market conditions, a fair and rational allocation of quotas between fishing vessel operators and management to support fishing seasons and the availability of by-catch quotas during the year. The management arrangements have been set and developed over many years since the commencement of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) and the introduction of quotas. Any amendments or changes to the policy on management arrangements are determined by the Minister of the time following detailed analysis and full consultation with stakeholders. Allocations and other arrangements are decided by the Minister on an ongoing basis having regard for the advice of the Quota Management Advisory Committee (QMAC). This Committee is a formal consultative committee, involving fishing industry representatives from the catching, inshore and processing sectors. The QMAC is in place at the discretion of the Minister and is chaired by the Department.
The QMAC currently meets on a monthly basis. The purpose of these meetings is for the industry representatives to make recommendations to the Minister on monthly/bi-monthly/quarterly catch limits for particular demersal stocks. The Minister has regard for the recommendations, subject to the proper management and rational exploitation of our fisheries. Additional meetings are organised as required to discuss specific issues in particular fisheries that may arise.
The QMAC operates by examining in detail each month the operation of each fishery, available quota and uptake patterns for the different metiers of fishing vessels, including inshore fishing vessels. There are detailed discussions each month on the catch limits taking account of the divergent situation of the fleet, including that of smaller inshore fishing vessels, and of the market.
