Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context

To put the discussion we are having into context, we have had reckless overfishing for a number of years by Norway, the Faroe Islands and Iceland, which is having a devastating impact on mackerel stocks. It is in complete disregard of ICES advice and with no repercussions, it appears to me. What happens then is that the pelagic stocks in the industry are squeezed, as is the ability to negotiate a fair distribution of quota. In Ireland, the quota of mackerel is a publicly owned quota and belongs to the Irish people and no one else. What happens then is there is not a good outcome in terms of inshore versus offshore. That has a squeezing impact. Inshore fishers are fishing crab, lobster, other shellfish and now sprat. All of this is interrelated.

There is a lack of political leadership in addressing these issues. To me, it is very simple and any fisher I would speak to would say the same. If the science is showing a species is under threat, it is madness to fish that species. It has to rest; it has to be able to recover. That has been completely ignored, though, if we work our way out. All of this is interrelated because sprat is in the food chain, particularly in the pelagic sector. I wanted to say that at the outset. It would be remiss of me not to say that everything was interconnected, so everybody is under pressure and we do not have proper, responsible management right through the system in terms of offshore fishing by other countries, our offshore into inshore, and so on. That is where we find ourselves now.

What stood out to me in the Marine Institute's opening submission was how ICES had determined that there was "insufficient information to evaluate stock trends and the exploitation status of the [sprat] stock." That seems to be the fundamental issue here, namely, that there are environmental campaign groups making their cases but they are challenged, according to the submission from the fishing organisations. The problem, as it appears to me, is that we do not have definitive science. If something is so critical in the food chain to a species that, up the line, is so important to our coastal communities, we must have rock solid science. I am not convinced by what I am being told. Obviously, this is an issue of international co-operation. From the Marine Institute's perspective, will Dr. Officer elaborate on how we can get to the point where we can trust the data so that we do not have environmental campaigners fighting with inshore fishers who are trying to sustain their livelihoods and get by in very serious circumstances on our coast?

I am mindful we had a minute's silence at the start of today's meeting for someone who lost his life. It is an incredibly difficult industry and we do not need to make it more difficult for people. Can I have a response from the Marine Institute?