Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am speaking on behalf of my colleague, the Minister, Deputy Coveney, who is opening the second annual Harnessing our Ocean Wealth Conference in Ringaskiddy, County Cork, as Deputy Doyle explained. The conference and the SeaFest Maritime Festival, which has been organised to coincide with it, mark the progress Ireland has made in developing our blue economy under the stewardship of this Government.

It is important to put into context the role of seafood in relation to sustaining rural coastal and island communities. Taking exports and the home market into account, the Irish seafood sector is now worth €800 million annually and supports 11,000 jobs primarily in coastal areas. There is significant scope for further value expansion in our seafood sector in the years ahead. Further development of the seafood processing sector is critical to that expansion in both the export and the home markets and to providing jobs. The Seafood Development Programme 2014-2020 aims to support the development of the sector through a wide range of targeted measures worth up to €241 million.

The increasing trend of greater foreign landings into Ireland is a positive development for the processing and support activities in our coastal communities. In total 78,000 tonnes of fish were landed from foreign vessels into our ports in 2013. This development allows Ireland to benefit from the economic dividend that flows from such landings by way of increased economic activity in some of our most isolated coastal communities.

Irish Seafood exports amounted to €540 million in 2014. Seafood exports to Asian markets such as Korea, China and Hong Kong continued to grow strongly in 2014 reaching €50 million. This strong future potential of the seafood industry is identified and acknowledged in the Food Wise 2025 national agrifood plan and in the marine strategy, Harvesting our Ocean Wealth 2020, and is being delivered through BIM and Bord Bia's strategies. The sub-committee's report makes a number of recommendations which concern a range of Government policies, including natural resources, marine safety and social protection.

Speaking on behalf of the Minister, I intend to address progress on aspects relevant to the seafood sector under his remit as Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine. The overarching goal of the new Common Fisheries Policy is to end overfishing and to make fishing sustainable - environmentally, economically and socially - thus resulting in a competitive and viable seafood sector for all. Key elements of the new Common Fisheries Policy include the setting of fishing levels on the basis of the maximum sustainable yield, MSY, principle, regionalisation of decision-making and the gradual phasing in of a discards ban. With regard to the latter, a discards plan for demersal stocks for north-western waters was recently agreed unanimously by the regional group of member states. This will come into force from the 1 January 2016. The discards ban will apply to all quota species in all fisheries from 2019 and the purpose of the discard plans is to begin a gradual phasing in of this new reality thereby allowing time for the industry to adapt and prepare. These are radical changes but they will help to achieve a sustainable, profitable and self-reliant industry that protects and enhances the social and economic fabric of rural coastal communities dependent on the seafood sector. The Minister is providing funding under the new operational programme to support the fishing fleet, both large and small, during this period of change.

In May 2014, the Minister established innovative consultative structures to bring Ireland's inshore fishing communities into discussions on the future of Ireland's seafood industry. The Minister recognised the need to take a different approach to communicating with Ireland's small-scale coastal fishermen in view of the very low level of professional trade representation for this part of the industry.

The newly established national inshore fisheries forum, NIFF, and regional inshore fisheries forums, RIFFs, provide areas for inshore fishermen to develop proposals on inshore fisheries management, including compliance and data gathering. The NIFF is representative of the under 12 m fishing fleet, the fishing boats of less than 12 m overall length. The focus on the NIFF work programme is on fisheries management in the coastal waters within six nautical miles.

To date, the three NIFF meetings have led to very constructive two-way conversations on issues of mutual concern, industry priorities, emerging policies and initiatives. As a result of the successful discussions between the Minister and the forum, the Minister has included NIFF members on the quota management advisory committee, the industry science fisheries partnership and the EMFF operational programme monitoring committee. This gives the inshore sector a role in making recommendations to the Minister on allocation of Ireland's quotas, on data collection and scientific research and, perhaps most importantly, on how funding is utilised. The new consultative structures may foster the development of an inshore producer organisation, as the sub-committee's report recommends, but this is a matter for the industry itself to consider and bring forward.

The sub-committee's report refers to managing the lobster and shrimp fisheries. The Minister introduced changes which came into effect this year to the management of lobster and shrimp fisheries, following on from an extensive consultation process. The changes seek to achieve long-term sustainability for both stocks.

In the case of shrimp, the new measures adjust the fishing season by bringing forward the closing date from 1 May to 15 March to protect the stock during the spawning season.

For lobster, in line with its economic importance as a mainstay of many inshore fishing boats, a multifaceted approach was introduced, commencing in May last year when the Minister announced a number of initiatives. First, the rate of financial assistance provided to fishermen for v-notching lobsters was increased to a maximum of 75% of the market value. The practice of v-notching allows lobsters to be returned to sea. It is illegal to sell lobsters that have been v-notched. Second, figures from BIM, which administers the lobster v-notching programme, indicated that the number of lobsters v-notched in 2014 was more than double the number in recent years, with some €250,000 of funding supporting the return of more than 30,000 berried female lobsters to the sea this year. Third, from 1 January 2015, a maximum landing size of 127 mm was introduced to support the reproductive potential of the lobster stock. The retention of very large lobsters in the stock is known scientifically to greatly enhance the reproductive potential of the stock and help to ensure its future sustainability. Fourth, during the first two years of the maximum landing size measure fishermen are permitted to bring oversize lobsters ashore to be v-notched. Following discussions with the National Inshore Fisheries Forum in May, the Minister, Deputy Coveney, increased financial assistance of up to 80% of the market value, the maximum allowable under EU rules, for this conservation practice.

The Minister, Deputy Coveney, has also introduced management measures which apply to razor clam fisheries. The measures were developed following public and industry consultation and discussions with the National Inshore Fisheries Forum. The new measures are essential tools in developing future sustainable plans for this fishery.

The sub-committee's report makes a number of recommendations concerning aquaculture. Irish aquaculture is at something of a crossroads at present, with many challenges to overcome in order to realise its full potential. The global projections for the expansion of aquaculture are very strong, and it is important that Ireland harness its coastal and marine resources to develop a sustainable aquaculture sector for the future.

To this end, the Minister, Deputy Coveney, launched a public consultation on Ireland's draft national strategic plan for sustainable aquaculture development proposing 24 actions and initiatives to boost the sustainable growth of aquaculture, which runs until 24 July. Actions proposed in the draft plan include the introduction of a set of guiding principles for the sustainable development of aquaculture,recommended to the Minister by the Marine Institute, together with scale limits and phasing in regard to the development of individual offshore salmon farms,also recommended by the Marine Institute.

Other initiatives include a review of the regulatory framework for aquaculture licensing and associated administrative procedures, financial supports to build capacity and foster knowledge, innovation and technology transfer, and expert advice and training for aquaculture operators in business planning, disease management and environmental best practice.

I hope that I have managed to convey a broad perspective on the progress being made to develop the seafood sector, particularly the range of aspects that are relevant to rural coastal and island communities.

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