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

The situation is not as loose as may be suggested. Boats have electronic logbooks such that we know what is being caught. Obviously, it helps to inspect to ensure that is the actual position. We know where the vessels are as soon as they enter Irish waters. If the Deputy were to visit the naval headquarters in Haulbowline staff there would be able to show him on screen the location of all fishing vessels in Irish waters at any given time, including a flag of the country of origin of each vessel. They can also access logbook information from boats. There is a lot of monitoring going on. What people would like to see is physical verification of that monitoring through on-board inspections. There are multiple boardings every day by the Naval Service. It is a tough job but they do a good job. They will board large vessels such as the super-trawlers about which we are speaking. They will probably target large vessels more than small vessels as there is more at stake potentially because of the volumes being caught, be they Irish boats or other boats.

People need to understand that we share fishing grounds within the European Union with other EU member states. We negotiate in December of each year the quota within different fishing sectors around the Irish coast, as we do across the Bay of Biscay, the Mediterranean Sea and up into the Baltic Sea. The quota that applies to each of those stocks in each of those zones is then divided among member states of the European Union in accordance with an agreed practise that has been going on now for many years.

Before fish are caught they must have a quota from a European member state that has a quota to catch fish, mackerel in this case, off the west coast of Ireland within this fisheries zone area. It is not as if the vessels are appearing, scooping up all of our fish and heading off without the quota to do that. The quota has been given to them on the basis of scientific advice in terms of the state of the stock and the health of that stock, coming from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, ICES, which is the international body that makes the scientific recommendations in terms of the health of mackerel stocks each year.

This is not anything out of the ordinary in terms of fish that have been taken from waters for which we have responsibility for monitoring and managing from a fishery perspective. This is quota fish that are being caught by boats that are owned within the European Union and have a quota to catch fish in that zone. The issue for us is to make sure that they do not go beyond that quota, because given their scale and size they have the capacity to go way beyond it if they choose to and if there is not tight enforcement. Those large vessels have significant catch capacity but they also know the consequences if they break the rules, which are significant.

Because it is so stormy at the moment it is very difficult for us to get on board and to reassure people by verifying the catch and matching that with the electronic logbook data, but as soon as conditions allow for that we will do so. As the Minister responsible for the fishing industry, nobody is more aware than I am of the need to protect fish stocks. In the context of a new Common Fisheries Policy and a negotiated Common Fisheries Fund for Ireland, which is more than twice the size of any fisheries package that Ireland has ever had in the past, we are very serious about protecting Irish fishing interests, so if I felt that we had large super trawlers that were abusing stocks in Irish waters, I would act on that, but this is about enforcement, information flow, transparency and keeping the rules. As soon as we have weather that can allow us to board those vessels, if the Naval Service and the SFPA feel it is appropriate to do so, that is what will happen.

See this speech in context