Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We worked hard during the Danish EU Council Presidency, which was before the current Cypriot Presidency, to get a Common Position on discards by the end of the Presidency, which was the end of June this year. There is a basic agreement in principle on how to address discards. However, dealing with the pelagic sector is different from dealing with the whitefish sector and there is a recognition of this, in particular in the whitefish sector, in which there are mixed fisheries. For example, off the south coast of Ireland at Dunmore East if one is catching cod, one is also likely to catch haddock and whiting in the same net. When adult fish species are the same size and a fisherman has a quota to catch two types but not the third, what does he do when he catches all three in the one net? These are complex problems that we must try to solve through more technical measures and more targeted fishing gear. It is one thing to deal with the juvenile fish issue. One can deal with it through measures such as mesh size to allow smaller fish to escape, but in mixed fisheries where one is likely to catch multiple species in the one net because the fish are roughly the same size there are complex problems relating to the management of discards. We are trying to find flexible ways of doing that, minimising discards and ultimately eliminating them altogether. I believe we will be able to do that.

It will be possible to do this before June but it will be challenging because there are deep divisions on some of these issues between member states, some of which are driven by the sustainability arguments while others are driven by the fishing industry. I maintain that they have a common interest and it will be our job during the Irish Presidency to try to bring the two sides together and to agree compromise positions.

See this speech in context