Noel Harrington (Cork South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am not a member of this committee but I am very pleased to have heard the presentation from the Minister. Obviously, every year the Minister and his officials go through this tortuous process of negotiating the total allowable catches, primarily based on a proposal from the European Commission on the back of scientific advice and the strategies this country needs to adopt to maintain a sustainable industry. It is the less glamorous side of an industry that is not very well understood in this country. This exercise this morning might add to our understanding and enhance the process.

The Minister is going to a meeting about which there will be very little reporting, discussion or comment, except in some of the communities mentioned, where people will be firmly focused on what can be achieved because their livelihoods are dependent on the outcome of that meeting. They will take very seriously the decisions that are made before Christmas. We are dealing with a part of the industry that is rarely spoken about, that is, the whitefish sector. That is possibly the most challenging part of the industry, where we have mixed fisheries with very good scientific advice on some species, but precious little advice on others which are very important to peoples' livelihoods. The idea of an arbitrary 20% cut in total allowable catches for species about which we have no scientific information is unacceptable. I support the Minister's contention that these must be dealt with differently.

I also support the Minister in his view that steps must be taken, where there is scientific advice, to ensure the stocks of certain species are not being challenged or depleted. Such steps are not just about appeasing the scientists, however, and that message must be sent out clearly. Steps must be taken to sustain fishing communities in the longer term and should be seen as intergenerational decisions rather than short-term decisions for which politicians are frequently criticised. When decisions are made and agreements are signed, the Minister must be conscious of the heavy impact they will have on people's livelihoods.

It is very easy to make the case for tearing up the relative stability agreements that have been made, but we would need to walk away from the European Union, and even if we did, we would still have international fisheries agreements that would have to be honoured. We must be very nuanced and strategic in our approach in trying to agree the total allowable catches. We must take the best scientific advice available and use it to the best advantage of our fishing communities. It is very easy to say, on entering total allowable catches negotiations, that we will achieve a better outcome than what the Commission proposes. Just because that is what has happened in the past does not mean that it can be achieved in a few weeks' time. Concessions are not just handed out on a plate and I would be very anxious that the Minister would acknowledge the fact that this is not a done deal. There will be a battle and a decision may well be finalised at 5 a.m. after 18 or 20 hours of negotiations.

It infuriates some of the fishing communities that visiting fleets can fish at will - or at least that is the perception - because they have larger total allowable catches, especially in species like monkfish, for example. I hope the Minister understands that it causes great frustration when the Irish fleet is precluded from fishing a species because of quota while vessels from neighbouring countries are free to do in Irish waters what the Irish are prohibited from doing. When the Minister goes into the negotiations and argues on the basis of scientific advice but is faced with quota restrictions or reductions in the total allowable catch, he must accept that the inevitable outcome of that, as sure as night follows day, will be greater discards, which will add to an already complex problem.

The problem of discards has been highlighted in the south east recently but what has happened there is not the solution. I am quite pessimistic regarding some of the stocks but I would hope that the Minister and his officials can convince the European Commission and their colleagues that swingeing cuts in one species will add to difficulties in terms of increasing the level of discards. The Commissioner has made the elimination of the discards problem in all fisheries a priority but the challenge is particularly acute in the whitefish sector and I am not sure that is well understood at a European level. Indeed, I am not sure it is even well understood in the fishing industry itself. Leaders of the industry have certainly identified the problem and perhaps they could propose new solutions. Technical measures can go some way to addressing the issue but it is a very complex problem.

I wish the Minister and his officials well in the negotiations and urge them to resist the blanket 20% cut for the species about which there is inadequate scientific information. Until we get that scientific advice, the relevant fishing communities must be given a chance to sustain their livelihoods.