Under the Common Fisheries Policy, EU fishing fleets are given equal access to EU waters and fishing grounds subject to allocated fish quotas and the rules of the CFP. There are restrictions on access within the 12 nautical miles zones of Member States including Ireland.
Quotas for the various stocks are allocated for management areas - that is, ICES areas, rather than Member States' EEZs. For example, the Total allowable Catch (TAC) area for the Hake Stock is ICES Areas 6 and 7 which stretches from the north of Scotland south to the north coast of Brittany, and into the English channel. This area includes parts of the UK EEZ, the Irish EEZ, part of the French EEZ and some international waters. Ireland's quota may be fished in any part of this area. Ireland's main mackerel quota covers ICES Areas 6 and 7 stretching from north of Scotland to the north coast of Brittany and the full quota may be fished in UK waters of the northern North Sea. The access to the northern North Sea in particular is economically important for our fleet.
In relation to Ireland's 200 miles zone, the outtake has been estimated by the Marine Institute. It has estimated the landings from the Irish EEZ for the top 25 species over the period from 2015 to 2019. The tables at the following link show that, overall, Irish vessels take 35.5% (by weight) and 38.8% (by value) of the landings from the Irish EEZ. The data sets for 2020 and 2021 are not available yet.
Irish Fishing Fleet
The total value of Ireland's fish quotas for 2021 is approximately €229 million.
