Martin Ferris (Kerry North, Sinn Fein)

It is vital the Government takes a strong stand in opposition to the latest proposals from the Commission regarding quota allocation and further restrictions on Irish fishermen in Irish waters when the Council of Fisheries Ministers meets next week. In particular, it must expose the fact that the Commission has gone well beyond what was discussed at the last meeting of the Council in November. If put into effect, the implications of the Commission's decisions would mean the overall quota available to Irish fishermen will be 25% lower in 2009 than it was this year. It would also mean the opposition at the November meeting of the Agriculture and Fisheries Council to the extension of measures for the Irish Sea, the north-west, south and the south-west fisheries at the November meeting of the Council of Fisheries Ministers has been ignored and overturned.

The Commission has also moved the goalposts with the agreed measures to be applied to the Irish Sea and to the north-west fishery. It now proposes a further 25% cut, from the base effort, in 2009. It is incumbent on the Minister to state his view on the Commission's proposals and that he will vigorously oppose them at the Council meeting next week.

The manner in which the Commission has acted on this issue illustrates once again the bureaucratic and unaccountable nature in which fishing policy is created in Brussels. It further underlines the need for this country to make a strong argument in favour of completely overhauling the Common Fisheries Policy, in particular the manner in which it is applied to Irish fishermen and to Irish waters. It is perpetuating a grossly unfair and inequitable system of quota allocation that goes back to the disastrous deal made on the fisheries sector in the negotiations leading to EEC accession in 1973.

However, that is a broader argument and the priority now is to address the immediate threat as posed by the Commission's proposals. The Minister needs to ensure the so-called "Hague preferences" which represent a concession on the original 1973 bad deal on the allocation of quotas in our waters, are placed on a statutory basis. That is the minimum required to ensure the Hague preferences are not, as is the case at present, subject to annual attack. An attack which if successful would mean a cut in the cod quota for Irish fishermen of up to 60%.

It is likely other member states will mount an offensive against the Hague preferences next week at the Council meeting. The Minister must commit himself to resisting that attack and to securing the preferences on a long-term basis. That is the minimum that needs to be done, pending a more radical review and reform in the interests of fairness in the entire fisheries policy. It is worth restating such reform is urgently required. Otherwise, we will continue to find the Irish fishing sector being subject to constant undermining and attack, with, in many people's opinion, the ultimate reduction of the sector to insignificance.

The Minister must also reject the proposed closure of the whitefish fishery in area 6a. This would mean the closure of the entire north-west fishery. Again, the Commission has acted arbitrarily without the proposal being discussed properly at EU level at the advisory committees on fisheries or the north-west waters regional advisory council. The sector believes the implications of the closure proposal were not subject to a proper economic assessment. The closure of the north west fishery would have a devastating impact on the fishermen engaged in demersal fishing in that area. The proposal must be rejected. If it were allowed to go ahead, the knock-on effect would add to the pressures on other coastal fisheries, including the south west.

Fishermen also argue that the proposed 15% cut in the nephrops quota in area 7 contradicts scientific evidence which has found the stock to be stable. They also claim it penalises Ireland for having utilised its quota. Other issues have emerged with, for example, the measures on ray and skate in areas 6 and 7 and in the spurdog fishery. One problem is with bycatch where a maximum 5% limit has been imposed on spotted dogfish. This raises the issue of discard catch due to vessels not wishing to contravene regulations but which, by extension, also leads to a massive amount of waste as bycatch is dumped at sea. A week last Friday, a trawler fishing off the Kerry coast was forced to dump 2.8 tonnes of spurdog overboard. The regulations in question often bear little relationship to the reality of the fishery in question.

Irish fishermen are also opposed to the proposed large scale transfer of the blue whiting quota to the Norwegian fleet, a transfer that could involve as much as 100,000 tonnes, almost 20% of the overall quota for blue whiting in EU waters. There is also the issue of proposed quotas for many species in 2009 being based on the average catch in recent years. Fishermen claim this is penalising them for years in which they have not filled their allocation. They also claim it will reduce the fishing opportunities available to vessels which remain in operation after decommissioning and that reducing the amount which they can catch will lead to the discarding of marketable fish. Due to the impact this calculation of quota based on averages will have for the Irish fishery it must be strongly opposed. The flawed nature of the emergency package agreed during the summer in response to the crisis brought about by increased fuel prices continues to be exposed. Sufficient funding is not available to address the serious issues and needs that exist and little or nothing has been done to alleviate the difficulties in which a large number of Irish fishermen continue to find themselves at the end of a difficult year.

Next week's Council meeting is therefore of crucial importance. If the Commission's proposals are accepted they will have massively negative consequences for the Irish fishery in 2009. Coming after an already bad year, it would be enough to further accelerate the numbers leaving fishing. Indeed there are many who believe this is, ultimately, the objective of the Commission and of EU fishing policy as it relates to the Irish industry. The Minister of State must take a strong stand as he is being urged to unanimously across the Irish fishing sector. In opposing the Commission proposals I am certain that he will also have the support of others in the House and I urge him to do so.

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