Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 8 December 2020
824. Deputy Jennifer Whitmore asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if it will be ensured that the 2018 commitments to ensure that effective bycatch reduction plans are developed which will progressively restore stocks that are subject to bycatch TACs will be delivered; if all fisheries which require bycatch TAC s will be subject to full catch documentation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41574/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraThere are certain stocks for which ICES (the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas) has issued scientific advice for no catches. The Landing Obligation requires that if these stocks are caught, even as a by-catch, they must be landed. These stocks in the Celtic Sea, the Irish Sea and the north-west occur as by-catches in our mixed whitefish fisheries therefore, if a zero Total Allowable Catch (TAC) were set, this would lead to the closure of the entire fisheries.
Last year, in order to reduce catches of depleted stocks in mixed fisheries, the Council agreed to set restrictive Total Allowable Catches (TACs) to allow for unavoidable by-catches of these stocks. In order to reduce the catches of stocks for which by-catch TACs were set, the TACs for the other stocks in the fisheries in which these vulnerable stocks are caught were set at levels that help the biomass of the vulnerable stocks recover to sustainable levels. In addition, these measures were complemented by the adoption of remedial technical measures in the Celtic Sea and the continuation of such measures in the Irish sea and the north-west.
The European Commission has proposed amendments to the EU Fisheries control framework. Negotiations on the new Fisheries Control Regulation are currently ongoing in both the EU Council and the European Parliament. Some of the measures being considered include provisions for full catch documentation, such as Remote Electronic Monitoring (REM) which involves, for example the use of CCTV cameras on vessels. Ireland is supportive of the proposed introduction of a risk-based REM system. As a Coastal Member State, Ireland supports this proposal provided that Coastal States have access to the data gathered within this system on a near real time basis to support the work of the control authorities.
