Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)

In addition to the direct impacts of high fuel costs for fishing fleets, I also raised with Commissioner Borg a number of other important issues for the Irish fishing industry that need to be addressed in the European context. These matters were raised with the Minister and me during our meeting with the Federation of Irish Fishermen on 15 June last.

The Irish industry is subject to unfair competition, in particular from fish landed by fishing vessels operating completely outside the legal framework. This type of fishing is known as illegal, unreported and unregulated, IUU, fishing and the adoption of measures to eliminate IUU fish from the EU market is on the agenda of the Fisheries Council in Luxembourg on 23 June.

IUU fishing means that catches are either misreported or not reported at all. It is a major contributor to overfishing. Estimates of the value of IUU fishing worldwide is €10 billion. By comparison, the value of EU landings is approximately €7 billion. EU fishermen face fierce competition from IUU operators who disregard all the many obligations that legal operators take on. This results in a loss of market share for the EU legal operator due to different cost structures. The problem has worsened over recent years with the globalisation of the fisheries sector and this has led to increased trade flows of fisheries products whose legality is difficult to ascertain.

The EU is the biggest market for and the leading importer of fisheries products with imports of almost €4 billion. An estimate of illegal fisheries products imported into the EU each year is set at 500,000 tonnes with a value of €1.1 billion or even higher. We must take strong action to address this menace which is both destroying fish stocks and undermining the markets for Irish fishermen. The new proposals, which I will be pushing to be adopted at next week's Fisheries Council focus on trade measures and put the onus on member states where fish are landed or imported to verify that they were caught using legal means. They also include provisions setting down sanctions against countries which continue to facilitate IUU fishing by providing flags of convenience for illegal vessels. This is an important new policy, which is timely and urgent. It will, I believe, support the EU market for Irish fishermen and contribute to improving fish prices.

Since my appointment as Minister of State with responsibility for fisheries, one of the most common issues of concern raised with me by the general public is the level of discards occurring around our coast. I am fully committed to finding solutions to this problem as early as possible. Again, tackling discards, especially of mature fish, was one of the key concerns which was identified at the meeting with the FIF. I share the concerns of fishermen and the general public in regard to the issue of discarding marketable fish and small fish which are the seed crop for the coming years.

I have been fully briefed on the issues and I am advised that the issue is complex and challenging. The issue of high levels of discards in commercial sea fisheries is a global problem and is on the agenda of all major international organisations that deal with the development of sustainable sea fisheries and the protection of marine ecosystems. Fish discarding is a complex problem and is a feature of most fisheries particularly in mixed fisheries such as those which prevail in waters around Ireland. The solution to discarding must be found at the European level because the rules on fishing gears, mesh sizes and the recording of catches are all set at European level and are applicable to all EU fleets.

Discarding means the deliberate jettisoning of all or some of a catch by a fishing vessel. There can be a number of reasons for discarding, including for example where a catch takes the vessel over its quota for that species; the vessel has no quota allocation for a particular species taken in a mixed fishery; the catch taken contains fish below minimum landing sizes; the practice of high grading, which happens when some of the catch is of varying size or quality — only the best will be retained and the rest discarded; or, the species caught has low or no market demand or the price is too low. Fish discarded do not usually survive but are not recorded in the vessel's logbook as part of the catch and so the true amount of fish taken out of a stock cannot be determined accurately. This has implications for appropriate and sustainable fisheries management and also particularly impacts on young fish. The specification of minimum landing sizes is intended to provide protection in particular for young fish, in order to provide for the continuation of the stock and the sustainability of the fishery.

A 2005 study published by the Food and Agriculture Organisation estimated the amount of discards in the North Atlantic at 1,332,000 tonnes per year, approximately 13% of the catches. The estimated discards for the North Sea ranged from 500,000 to 880,000 tonnes. To the west of Ireland and Scotland, discards ranged from 31% to 90% of catches, depending on the fleets, target species and depth. In the Mediterranean and Black Seas, discards amounted to 18,000 tonnes or 4.9% of the catches. In the Baltic, this rate was estimated to be low, at an average of 1.4%.

There is general agreement among fishermen, managers, and scientists alike that such practices are wasteful and destructive and must be reduced although it is doubtful that they can be eliminated completely, particularly in mixed fisheries. The focus, therefore, must be to minimise them.

Ireland has been to the forefront in pressing for action on this issue at European level. During the Irish Presidency in 2004, we chose the theme of fast tracking the development of environmentally friendly fishing methods as a key focus. A major international conference was held in Dundalk involving EU member states, Norway and Iceland, with the emphasis on how to reduce discards in commercial fisheries. Measures proposed to tackle discarding and supported by various stakeholders include improvements in fishing gears and gear selectivity, improvements in fishing methods and fishing practices, the recording of catches rather than landings, onboard observer schemes etc.

A joint Irish-UK pilot project in the Irish Sea aims to reduce discarding. The Irish Sea enhanced data collection project has been developed collaboratively between fishing industry representatives, scientists, the North West Waters Regional Advisory Committee and the national administrations from Ireland, England and Northern Ireland. This study is a very important step in the collection of data on discards with the aim of introducing a scheme whereby discards would be minimised and ultimately eliminated.

The European Commission has made the elimination of discarding one of the four main fisheries priorities for its Fisheries Directorate. The Commission adopted a communication on the issue of discards in fisheries on 28 March 2007. Following further work, a communication on a policy to reduce unwanted by-catches and discards in European fisheries was presented to Council in June 2007. The Council adopted a range of conclusions on the Commission proposal and these will determine the agenda at European level on this issue for the immediate future.

The current programme for Government commits to increasing supports to assist fishermen to make the change over to more environmentally friendly fishing gear and I am confident that this will also assist in reducing the incidence of discarding in key fisheries. At my meeting yesterday with Commissioner Borg I raised this issue as a priority for me, and for the Federation of Irish Fishermen. While he acknowledged that finding effective solutions is challenging, he restated his commitment to continue to prioritise the current work programme agreed by the Council in June 2007. I will continue to press for progress on this issue at national, EU and international levels and I am confident that with the co-operation, collaboration and commitment of all the stakeholders significant improvements can be achieved in this most sensitive area for the long-term sustainability of our industry.

Industry representatives highlighted to me the particular difficulties they are currently experiencing in the cod fishery in the Celtic Sea. The landings of cod have been high so far this year. A relatively open regime for fishing these stocks was put in place in conjunction with the industry early in the year, reflecting the good market prices available at that time. As a result the cod quotas around the coast are fully exhausted or almost so. This poses a very difficult problem for fishermen now because cod is taken in a mixed fishery with other stocks such as haddock and whiting as well as in the nephrops fishery and cod caught has to be either completely discarded or part discarded depending on the situation with the relevant quota.

For the Celtic Sea cod stock, the 2008 quotas were set at the December 2007 Fisheries Council where a preliminary 2008 TAG for Celtic Sea cod was set at 4,316 tonnes under Council regulations.

The need for a level playing field across the EU on fisheries control has been recognised as a national priority both by industry and by the Government. We have consistently pushed at EU level for these controls. Yesterday Commissioner Borg acknowledged that the issue has been raised with him by a number of other countries and Ministries. On foot of the Court of Auditor findings, the Commission has prioritised control and has stated that it intends to review the regulatory regime, to put greater responsibility on member states and give itself stronger powers in this regard. This is an extremely important issue from the Irish point of view.

There is also the matter of administrative sanctions which was raised by the fishermen. I recognise that fishermen would prefer a regime of administrative sanctions, as is the norm on the Continent. The possibility of introducing administrative sanctions was comprehensively considered, including an examination of practices in other member states, at the time of the passage of the Sea Fisheries and Maritime Jurisdiction Bill through the Oireachtas. The position taken at the time is well known. It is an issue which is of considerable concern and worry to the FIF and the Department is examining it in so far as that can be done at this stage.

National measures are being progressed to take account of the current difficulties being experienced by fishermen. The current whitefish decommissioning scheme which aims to remove a large number of older trawlers from the whitefish fleet is of critical importance. BIM's assessment of applications made under the €42 million decommissioning programme is nearing completion and letters of offer to eligible applicants will issue in the very near future.

This strategy of restructuring the fleet in terms of capacity and efficiency is a key recommendation in line the Government's Cawley seafood development strategy. It is also the cornerstone of the Commission's strategy which, while allowing for short-term emergency aid, continues to emphasise that this is a long-term matter and that medium to long-term restructuring of the fleet must be the priority.

The Minister for Agriculture and Food, Deputy Smith, and I listened very carefully to issues raised by FIF at the two meetings we have had with it and there are several initiatives that we propose to take in the short term. We are establishing the Irish seafood market initiative under the chair of Jason Whooley, CEO of BIM. The remit of this initiative will be to discuss, identify and maximize the opportunities for domestic seafood supply to the Irish seafood market. A second initiative to be taken is the Irish fisheries science research partnership which will be under the chairmanship of Dr. Peter Heffernan, CEO of the Marine Institute. This will ensure that the huge amount of knowledge and information in the fishing industry will be taken account of and put into play, in conjunction with the tremendous work that the insititute and its scientists do on behalf of the industry in terms of conservation.

The aim is to ensure there are stocks for future generations of fishermen as well as for those in the current fleets. All the information available, from the fleet and its members and from the research people, can be brought together in a meaningful manner and used to influence policies adopted at EU level to the best possible outcome for Irish fishermen.

See this speech in context