Ms Teresa Morrissey:

To give some background, marine spatial planning is under a European directive. It is essential and we have now implemented it in Ireland. We were one of the first to have a national marine planning framework and national legislation underpinning that. The complexity in terms of MARA and what it means not just for aquaculture but fisheries, although we are the only licensed activity on the foreshore that will be affected by this, is that we are not legislated for. We were excluded from the marine spatial planning legislation. We are included in the national marine planning framework in that aquaculture and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine have to sign up to the policies, principles and objectives of the national marine planning framework but the legislation underpinning that, which means you must adhere to it, excludes aquaculture. Those policies and principles are really ineffective and meaningless in terms of aquaculture if they are not underpinned by legislation, which they are not. What this essentially means is that we are excluded from MARA, which will be established next year. This is a real concern because we do not know where that will leave aquaculture when it comes to access to space, the marine spatial plan and the planning process when it comes to the marine space because we were separated from that process. We will see offshore wind and other industries being developed and managed by one singular body and rightly so. Everything you read about marine spatial planning and the national marine planning framework will tell you that it is a one-stop-shop - a single point for regulation across the marine space - but this is simply not true because it does not include the two main seafood industries, namely, fisheries and aquaculture, so that is a concern.

That aside, in terms of legislation for aquaculture, we are legislated for under a number of amendments in the Fisheries Act that make it quite cumbersome to understand what the legislation and regulation around aquaculture is. Quite unusually, in many places where I speak, and I am a member of the marine spatial planning advisory group, I am one of the few lobbyists looking for more regulation for our sector. That is essentially what we are looking for. We are looking for more regulation because we are not satisfied with the regulation we have. We cannot stand over it as an industry. The State is only able to stand over it, which causes issues with stakeholders looking in and members of the public who quite rightly are entitled to see what the process around aquaculture licensing and the production thereof is. It makes it quite difficult for us even to stand over it because the regulatory system is so broken. It needs reform because it is essential for our sustainable development. The draft national strategic plan for aquaculture is under public consultation until the end of this month. That is our main policy document until 2030. For the guts of the next ten years, that will be our main policy document. Much of the direction of travel and recommendations in that strategy, which will be funded mainly by the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund, simply cannot be implemented without sufficient legislative reform. If the legislation is not there to underpin the strategy in that, some of it simply cannot happen so it is vital that we have that reform. One of the recommendations in that strategy involves reviewing the legislation and not to start that review until 2025. The review for aquaculture licensing was 2017 and now we are taking the legislation in 2025. We really need to see urgency from the Department and the Government on this issue. Otherwise a lot of the very good progress that can be made from the aquaculture industry simply will not be made.