Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Deputy Harrington speaks to me about these issues all the time. He is right in that the industry is taking a very responsible approach and accepting a number of proposed cuts. As it happens, some of those proposed cuts would have seen very big increases either last year or the year before in the case of herring, for example. Fishermen realise that if they take hard medicine when they need to, they will get rewards the year after or the following year. That is the case. The Celtic Sea herring management committee is not perfect but it has demonstrated a capacity to take decisions that have had very positive results in terms of stock sustainability. My understanding is the parties may not like it but they accept it is the right decision to see a reduced quota next year. As the Deputy mentioned, they will not accept a precautionary principle where 20% is taken from a stock when there is no science behind the process. That is totally unacceptable.

Fishermen have become supporters of the idea of collecting more scientific data, not less. When I started in politics, fishermen wanted nothing to do with scientists and they did not accept that the scientists understood fishing and fishing grounds. Now the fishermen want more science. We spent much money and time using cameras to assess the state of nephrops or prawn stocks in the Irish Sea, off the south coast and the Porcupine Basin. It is really comprehensive and convincing science, and as a result of it we achieved much better results in the negotiations. Fishermen can see that now so we will continue to take that approach.

What was the other question? It related to the monkfish quota.