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

The Celtic Sea fishery is a really complex one. There are species other than cod, haddock and whiting caught in the Celtic Sea on which we have had good news, but the cod, haddock and whiting fishery is a big one, particularly in respect of the whiting element as we have a bigger quota than France and the United Kingdom, who share the fishery with us. The industry took the initiative here and said it would introduce conservation measures. It is effectively putting escape hatches in nets for small fish, which is the correct and responsible thing to do. On the back of that initiative, it has got a better deal in terms of quota.

With the Marine Institute, we got up-to-date science on the cod stock, in particular. A 64% reduction in the cod quota was proposed for next year, which would have been devastating for the industry. However, on the back of the science, the recommendation was for 26%. This totally changed the discussion. Therefore, the combination of the new science coming from the Marine Institute and the new conservation measures, involving the changing of the gear we use by introducing a 120 sq. mm mesh panel, which is essentially like a sunroof slotted into a net that allows juvenile fish to swim out, allowed us to change the conversation totally. While we had to introduce cuts, they were much more modest than would otherwise have been the case.

We are seeing strong recruitment on the ground at present for both cod and haddock in the Celtic Sea. I anticipate this will give us improved quotas over the next couple of years.

I acknowledge that Minister Michelle O'Neill had a good input, particularly in respect of prawns. We share a very important prawn fishery with Northern Ireland in the Irish Sea. The Minister made a very strong argument on moving from a -14 position to +3 position. She was very helpful on that.

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