Mrs. Sharon McMahon:

I thank the Chair for the introductions and welcome. We are delighted to be here to present before the committee today. We sent a number of documents in advance, including our annual activity reports for the past two years. I will give a brief history lesson, partly in order that the committee will understand where the agency came from, before moving on to Brexit and other issues that may arise.

As members will be aware, the Loughs Agency is one of the six implementation bodies established under the Good Friday Agreement, and we claim to be the original cross-Border body. The agency inherited the functions and responsibilities of the Foyle Fisheries Commission with regard to the conservation, protection, management and improvement of the fisheries of the cross-Border Foyle area. Further functions were conferred on the agency by the Good Friday Agreement. In 2007, the Foyle and Carlingford (Northern Ireland) Order, and the corresponding Foyle and Carlingford Fisheries Act, provided for the Loughs Agency to become the licensing authority for land and marine agriculture in Foyle and Carlingford. We have responsibility for 4,070 sq. km of catchment in the Foyle area and 480 sq. km in Carlingford, with responsibility for the two sea loughs and an area extending 12 miles out to sea from Lough Foyle, which stretches to Downhill in Northern Ireland and Malin Head in Donegal. The agency has delivered transboundary fisheries management in these waters since the establishment of its predecessor in 1952, the Foyle Fisheries Commission. We are a small but relevant organisation with an approved staffing complement of 53, who provide a unique statutory public function across an international budget with an annual baseline budget of just €4 million.

Over the past 20 years, and before that since 1952, the Lough Agency's achievements have allowed it to grow and develop its approach to fisheries management. Deploying an internationally recognised evidence-based management approach and audit point management system for Atlantic salmon to enable management decisions, the agency has successfully developed and implemented a freshwater fisheries monitoring programme and a fish counter programme, both of which are critical when developing and delivering fisheries orientated management. Salmon numbers have declined globally, however, and, unfortunately, the Foyle system is experiencing similar downturns. With the decline, the agency played a significant role in various research programmes, investigating the underlying reasons for the drop in numbers of returning Atlantic salmon.

We also initiated research programmes which highlighted potential issues with survival in the early marine transitional phase. As the agency does not have the resources to address fully the questions raised, we sought and secured EU INTERREG V funding, which included €1.4 million for the River Finn through the Donegal County Council-led catchment CARE programme. We have secured €4.7 million for a project called SeaMonitor, which will allow us to further investigate the survival of salmon and the distribution of other mobile marine species, such as the basking shark, on the north coast between the island of Ireland and Scotland. The partnership consists of nine partners from Ireland, the UK, Canada and the USA, with the agency acting as the lead.

Our protection conservation and enforcement work forms the central, day-to-day operations of our business. The Loughs Agency has instigated a significant number of prosecution cases over the years, taking actions in courts in both jurisdictions, encompassing a variety of offences. This unique aspect of our legislation provides the agency with a distinctive and irreplaceable mechanism for ensuring the fisheries law is effectively enforced in cross-Border areas, allowing the agency to prosecute by domicile, that is, where an offender can be prosecuted in the country where he or she resides as opposed to where the offence took place.

Since September 2008, the Loughs Agency has licensed and regulated the native oyster fishery in Lough Foyle. As previously mentioned, the 2007 Foyle and Carlingford order and the corresponding Act provide for the agency to become the licensing authority for both land and marine aquaculture in the Foyle and Carlingford areas. Due to the ongoing stalemate over the jurisdictional issue, however, the regulations have not been enacted. High level discussions which relate to the jurisdictional issue are taking place between the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office before legislation can be brought forward to regulate this activity. Unfortunately, we are not involved in these discussions but we hope it will lead to the issue of unlicensed oyster farms being addressed.

Our marine tourism and angling development remit has been supported over the years with investment through INTERREG and core funding by both sponsored Departments, which has led to improved access to many water-based activities and for anglers. In particular, the agency secured €3.7 million of INTERREG funding aimed at developing and promoting marine tourism and angling. One of the marine tourism projects included the procurement and installation of pontoons in Derry city centre, which enables the Foyle Maritime Festival to hold the clipper round the world yacht race. The high quality angling product in the Foyle and Carlingford areas makes them a destination of choice for local and overseas anglers. Average annual licence sales are approximately 9,000, with 5% of sales originating from approximately 18 countries around the world. Our catchments have been the venue of choice for many international angling events, generating much-needed economic investment in rural areas, including the successful 2018 Commonwealth fly fishing championships, held in association with the Trout Angling Federation of Ireland.

Through our education and outreach programmes, we pride ourselves on inspiring the next generation of catchment custodians. Our Riverwatch visitor centre has welcomed nearly 250,000 visitors since it opened in 2002, and we have delivered a number of workshops to schools that demonstrate the scientific functions of the agency. Our engagement programmes have seen the development and delivery of the Foyle ambassador programme, with a Carlingford programme due to commence next year. To date, more than 100 young people have completed the programme.

On the impacts of Brexit, it was important we gave that brief overview and recap of our history, role and work in order that the committee can have a clear picture of the impact and opportunity of Brexit of which we in the agency could avail. Although there are many unknowns at this time, we are not naive; there will doubtless be new challenges for the agency. Our uniqueness exists primarily because fish, poachers and pollution do not recognise borders. It is imperative the agency continues to protect, conserve and develop the natural resource in the Border counties. At this point, we are confident nothing in our legislative framework will change post Brexit, though the UK's withdrawal from the EU is potentially one of the biggest threats to the environment in the medium to long term. The UK has committed to transpose EU directives into national legislation through the great repeal Bill, but we are unsure how this will work. We are concerned that, as time passes and amendments are made to EU and UK legislation, divergence will be inevitable, with standards in assessment techniques deviating, potentially leading to different interpretations. We developed and maintain strong working relationships with a number of relevant agencies in both jurisdictions, relating to law enforcement and the broader management of the Foyle and Carlingford catchment areas. It is our intention post Brexit to continue to maintain and further develop such working relationships. There is no doubt EU funding played a substantial role in supporting the work of the agency over the years, and the agency has successfully secured in excess of €20 million to date from various funding initiatives.

In conclusion, the agency's unique strength is that it has worked on a cross-Border basis since 1952, before accession to the EU and through the Troubles. The Foyle Fisheries Act 1952 predates the accession of Ireland and the UK to the European Union. We are confident this so-called experiment in co-operation and goodwill, referred to in the 1952 Act, will continue post Brexit.

Provision of what the agency termed the "management agreement" will strengthen the position of the agency post-Brexit and allow us to deliver management and regulation of aquaculture in the Foyle and Carlingford areas. Post-Brexit, this agreement must be recognised by the relevant Departments, North and South as well as east and west, as a matter of priority.

Finally, the role of the agency is irreplaceable. We are a very relevant 21st-century organisation. Our work forms a template for the effective management, protection, conservation, development and promotion of a vulnerable natural environment which straddles both sides of an international Border, sponsored and supported by two governments. The potential for the agency as a vehicle to deliver cross-Border funding initiatives, environmental projects and many other projects which will bring benefit to the cross-Border region should not be ignored nor should it be underestimated. As I have said, we have forwarded the committee a number of documents. I hope members have had time to look through them. If there are any questions my colleagues and the vice-chair of our board are happy to address them.