Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

As the Deputy knows, EU Regulation 2807 of 1983 required all EU vessels to retain a paper logbook on board. This was required to be completed every 24 hours. A new control regulation, EU Regulation 1224 of 2009, which was introduced on 7 May 2011, legislates for the introduction of electronic reporting and recording systems. Article 15 of this regulation states that all masters of community fishing vessels of 12 m length overall or more shall record information by electronic means and shall send it by electronic means to the competent authority of the flag member state at least once a day. This requirement negates the obligation to complete a paper logbook.

The electronic recording system, ERS, project is running well behind schedule in almost all member states. An additional complication is that all member states are at varying levels of development of the system. For the system to work, all states need to go live at the same time and be at the same level of development. Ireland has completed fitting electronic logbooks on all vessels over 24 m, this being the first of three categories required. Other works have been completed on the recording systems in the Fisheries Monitoring Centre, FMC, and on inspection devices.

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