John Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)

As previously explained to the Deputy, the fishing effort levels laid down in Council Regulation 1415 of 2004 are subject to detailed reporting requirements by all member states concerned. These maximum effort levels remain in place and are legislatively enforced at EU level. Any breach of those limits by the fishing fleets of any member state is subject to possible infringement proceedings by the European Commission against that state. Information from the Commission indicates that for the year to end November 2005 Spain is within all of its effort allocations and had used up 84% of its annual effort allocation for demersal species in the biologically sensitive area by the end of that month. For all of 2004 the effort consumption rate was 86%.

The issue of who should ensure compliance with the limits is at the core of the Deputy's question and I will focus specifically on that aspect. It is a prerequisite for an effective fishing effort regime that includes many member state zones that a co-ordinating body such as the European Commission should play the central role in monitoring the performance of each member state insofar as compliance with the fishing effort ceilings is concerned. Any suggestion that individual member states would somehow be better placed to undertake this task is ill-founded and based on a misunderstanding of the Common Fisheries Policy, CFP.

Under the CFP, each member state exercises responsibility for vessels flying its flag and this includes the requirement that its vessels complete and submit log sheet returns for all fishing operations irrespective of geographical location. Fishing effort reports by member states are compiled from these logbook records. Member states must maintain and make available to the Commission for audit purposes on request the log sheet returns which are a critical element in providing assurance on the levels of fishing effort in any given area. Through a combination of reporting and audit requirements, the Commission is thus ideally placed to monitor the situation and to take action in the event of non-compliance with the limits. I have every confidence in the Commission's capacity to discharge its function in this matter.

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