Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 8 December 2015

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Fishing Industry: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine

4:00 pm

Photo of Martin FerrisMartin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his response. Deputies Harrington, Pringle and I are from coastal areas and we have been contacted by very concerned people about the action, particularly off the coast of Donegal, and the factory freezer ships like the Margirisoperating there. The big problem is we are told that the only way to police them properly is by having a control observer on the vessel. From the Minister's presentation, it appears that the control experts advisory council has indicated that a flag member state will be responsible for placing control observers on the vessel. It is essential that if vessels are operating in Irish waters, and given the concern that exists, observers must include somebody from the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority, SFPA, or a similar body, which would have responsibility for the jurisdiction and protection of fish there. A programme was shown in Holland about people on board one of those vessels, which have graders and machinery to munch discards before letting them out underneath the boat. If that is happening, I am reliably told that going on what the programme shows, there are up to 70% discards, which will do terrible damage to fish stocks if it is true.

Is it the Minister's assessment from the advisory council that a control observer will be from the SFPA when vessels fish in Irish waters? Will the Minister say, definitively or reasonably accurately, that the percentage of quota allocated to those vessels is what is reported when they are in Irish waters? Are some of these vessels landing outside the EU jurisdiction? Does the Minister share the concerns that I and others have relating to what is happening now?

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