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

I thank the Minister and his officials for reporting to the committee in advance of the Council meeting. It does paint a very bleak picture, in particular for area VII in the south. It is important to get an idea of what that means for coastal communities as well as they look on the negotiations with some fear. There is much riding on how the negotiations will progress. From that point of view we wish the Minister the very best of luck in dealing with the proposed cuts by the Commission.

Those communities continue to invest quite a lot. There is increased investment in enforcement as there is a new system of penalty points. There is a greater enforcement effort in particular onshore in the factories. The authorities are essentially following the money in the fishing industry. There is greater compliance offshore due to the fear that exists. We were hoping that we would see some return on that, in particular in terms of a quota uplift and reporting of discards, which is still legal in most species, in particular on the demersal side.

It seems disappointing. It would be interesting to see the figures on a quota uplift based on what the Marine Institute and the FSAI believe are the actual amount of discards based on what fishermen do. I would be very interested in comments on that. Part of the reporting structure in the stock book shows improvements in some fisheries while some remain a concern. We do not know what stocks have deteriorated and how that ties in with the Commission's proposals. That has an impact on trying to achieve the maximum sustainable yield, MSY, by 2020. The fishing community will have to make big investments. It needs to see a better effort by the industry, the discards implementation committee or the Department at informing fishermen about what is actually going on and how they are to achieve these MSYs and greater sustainability beyond 2020 while putting up with cuts proposed by the Commission.

The reality is that in some fisheries - and it is sometimes seen on the pelagic side where there have been cuts and reduced quotas and landings - it has had a positive impact on prices. However, that does not happen with white fish, it simply does not work. A proposed cut in the white fish sector, unlike prawns for example, does not have an impact on price. We are price followers in many ways and white fish is expensive at market. It does not increase but this measure does have a real effect on take-home pay for the fishing community. It is a different dynamic between the two fisheries.

With regard to the social impact it is clear that either we do not have enough quota or we have an over-capacity in the white fish fleet. It is becoming unsustainable for many operators who would have made a living in the recent past. They are finding it increasingly difficult despite the inputs into the industry and with fuel costs being low. We still see family businesses under immense pressure. It is most disappointing that the enforcement regime, the compliance regime, the introduction of discards, the banning of the landing obligation and the MSY issue - which needs to be dealt with over the next four or five years - are all meant to give a return to the communities yet it seems to be going the other way. This should be the central plank of the argument regarding the social impacts of these cuts for coastal communities, especially in the south and south-west.