Pat Gallagher (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

I presume Peterhead is investing to accommodate Irish boats because the fish, unfortunately, are close to there at this time. The Deputy will know from his contacts in Killybegs that during the early part of the year record prices are available in that area.

I accept we have a responsibility to work with the producers and processors to develop the industry. This means not only providing jobs at sea but, equally important, jobs on land in the processing plants that have made major investments but are having problems at present. While the boats can follow the fish and land their catches into the nearest ports or where markets are most lucrative, processors cannot.

Fewer processors are operating in recent years due to the reduction in the quota for pelagic fish. As the Deputy knows, the decision on mackerel as a straddling stock is out of our hands and is decided by the EU and Norway. However, with regard to stocks over which I have some control, when I visited Brussels this year there was a proposal to significantly reduce the horse mackerel quota. Through negotiations and networking, I secured the status quo for horse mackerel and achieved a substantial increase in the blue whiting quota. I hope we can work with BIM and the industry to ensure a concentration on blue whiting so that more of it is taken ashore for human consumption purposes.

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