Noel Dempsey (Meath, Fianna Fail)

New EU control requirements for pelagic fisheries were introduced in 2004 to meet concerns of possible illegal fish landings in these fisheries across Europe. Such controls are a key element in fisheries management policy to enable the sustainable management and development of the fisheries concerned.

The requirements created new and more onerous obligations for member states to ensure all landings of pelagic fish over ten tonnes were weighed in the presence of controllers. In implementing the procedures, my Department has acceded to industry requests to allow landings at a variety of ports. The immediate impact of this decision was that some restrictions had to be placed on permitted landing times. To implement this with the available resources, it was necessary to restrict the landing times in the designated pelagic ports. The new controls were extended to the south and east coasts with the inclusion of the Celtic Sea and Irish Sea herring fisheries from 2005.

While it is desirable to provide 24-hour cover for major ports where possible, this has to be balanced by the legal obligations which the State carries to ensure adequate control presence at those ports when open. I recognise the need to augment the Department's seafood control resources to permit longer opening times at key ports. My Department is pursuing a case for the necessary additional resources.

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