Dáil debates

Thursday, 16 September 2021

Maritime Area Planning Bill 2021: Second Stage (Resumed)

 

3:20 pm

Photo of Verona MurphyVerona Murphy (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have spoken many times in the House on the areas of fishing and the marine and some of the issues I have raised highlight the need for better marine planning, so I am pleased to be speaking on the Bill. I will first address maritime spatial plans in chapter 2. We will have to wait and see how these spatial plans work in practice but progress in the area is welcome. The Bill states:

(2) The objectives of a [maritime spatial plan] shall be— (a) to analyse and organise maritime usages in the maritime area for the purpose of achieving ecological, economic and social priorities,

(b) to establish a national strategy for the Government in relation to the strategic planning and sustainable maritime usages in the maritime area,

(c) to apply an ecosystem based approach for the purpose of supporting proper planning and sustainable maritime usages in the maritime area, and

(d) to promote the colocation of different types of maritime usages in the maritime area.

I have highlighted on a couple of occasions the lack of joined-up thinking when it comes to the planning of marine activities. I used the example of cable-laying activities being issued a licence to operate in fishing areas, which effectively meant two separate Departments granted licences for two different activities in the same area, leading to conflict. The conflict stemmed from the lack of clear rules and regulations as to what activities would have priority. Fishermen were receiving cease and desist letters from cable-laying companies because the fishing activities were interfering with the cable laying. It is for reasons such as this that we need a clear maritime plan for an area to organise the usages in such a way as to reduce conflict. The fishing community in particular has been hit hard over the past number of years. It is the oldest and longest-established maritime activity. In the same way as horses have the right to use our roads, fishermen have the right to use our waters. I therefore hope that when a maritime spatial plan is being produced that at all times the rights of Irish licence holders to fish in our waters are protected and that it, above all other activities, has the right of way in our waters.

This Bill also establishes an organisation, much mentioned today, to be called the maritime area regulatory authority. I have some examples of issues it might consider working on as soon as possible, though the agency is not yet set up. The first is an issue related to salmon drift net fishing. Following recent correspondence with licence holders for salmon drift net fishing, I was supplied with a copy of correspondence sent to them by the former Minister of State, Mr. John Browne, father of the Minister of State at the Department of Justice, Deputy James Browne. My correspondent received this letter on 13 February 2007 regarding a temporary suspension of salmon drift net fishing in the interests of conservation. The correspondence refers to a hardship fund aimed at alleviating hardship related to loss of income derived from salmon harvesting in recent years, caused in turn by the cessation of mixed-stock fishing in the interests of conservation. The hardship fund or compensation package was given to licence holders willing to relinquish their licences. Those who held onto their licences in anticipation of a resumption of salmon fishing have not yet received any compensation, nor have they been permitted to resume their fishing activities. The letter goes on to state:

In the future event that stocks recover in each of the rivers of the Waterford estuary, and it is established through the results of the genetic stock identification project that significant numbers of fish destined for other rivers are not intercepted within the estuary by commercial nets, it should be possible to exploit the identified surplus by all methods.

This paragraph clearly shows that under certain conditions, salmon drift net fishing would be allowed to return. More than 14 years later it remains suspended. In the interest of fairness to the people involved, I ask the Minister undertake the a number actions, or perhaps MARA could carry them out. The first is to arrange for a stock identification project to be completed on all relevant rivers to establish whether stocks have returned to a sufficient level for all of the fishing to resume. The second is to reintroduce the hardship fund for any remaining licence holders who wish to relinquish their licence on the same terms as were offered in 2007.

The second issue the Minister or MARA could turn their attention to is the introduction of regulations which see shellfish boats being no longer able to land their catch in UK ports. From 1 October, bivalve mollusc shellfishing boats can no longer land their catch in the UK, meaning they must go to Belgium or France to land their catch. Boats being unable to land in the UK mean hours and hours of additional sea journey time to land catch in EU ports and then more time to get the catch transported back to Ireland for processing.

These fishers are not included as part of the trade and co-operation agreement because they are non-quota. They receive no compensation but are gravely affected. Seven boats are affected by this and all of them are owned in County Wexford. The extra cost imposed as a result of this change will cause major hardship for those hardworking fishermen who are trying to make a continued success of their businesses. Those affected must be supported by a liquidity fund to allow for the costs incurred as a result of the change and to give them time to identify mainland EU processors as we now have only one processor in Ireland.

The way those affected have been treated is unacceptable but is symptomatic of the way in which our Government treats our fishing communities. When it comes to Northern Ireland the protocol can be kicked down the road but we are enforcing it to the nth degree here. This has created an uneven playing field. The Government must think that if no one mentions it, then it will go unnoticed but untold damage is being done. In fact, the Government's treatment of the fishing industry lately, which has been mentioned in the House many times today, has been crazy. I previously highlighted issues around fishermen being expected to spend hundreds of thousands of euro to provide quayside weighbridges when perfectly operational weighbridges are only a few metres away in a factory setting, all as a consequence of the European Commission interfering unnecessarily in our fishing affairs, based on information given by the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority, SFPA.

The third area that we need to see more movement on is the wind farm construction base at Rosslare Port. No disrespect to the Minister, but there has been much talk today of MARA, a quango that has not yet been set up. It is to be housed in Wexford in a building that has not been built yet. I want to be optimistic and I hope that it transpires that we get MARA and that it is housed in Wexford because the Wexford people do not deserve spin; they deserve delivery. Rosslare Europort is ripe for investment. I do not believe that the heel-dragging will bring the much-needed foreign investment to the port. We need action. We need the Government to deliver on the words that we continually hear on local and national radio. Rosslare Europort is the country's most strategic port and it is in urgent need of investment. Giving taxpayers a double bang for their buck would mean awarding the offshore construction wind base to Rosslare Europort which will provide the infrastructure required and repair the neglect of that port for the last 30 years. I hope that MARA will be a success. Too many State authorities end up putting unnecessarily onerous barriers in the way of people they are supposed to be helping. I hope that the work of MARA will focus on removing barriers to investment and innovation for all of the hard-working people involved in various marine activities across the country.

I will finish on the issue of landing catches in the UK, which I urge the Minister and Department officials to take very seriously. These fishers have spent millions of euro on their fleet. They are now seeing their businesses and their family life turned upside down through no fault of their own because of Brexit. They believed that they would be compensated as part of the national fleet but because their catch is a non-quota species, they have been excluded. No compensation is available to them. They are being told they are not being affected but nothing could be further from the truth. It is the fishers' belief that because there are only seven boats in the Irish fleet, the Government does not care because that amounts to only seven votes. However, I remain optimistic on their behalf and believe that this Government, the Minister and departmental officials have the foresight to prove them wrong. The entire fleet is owned and based in Wexford and as a Wexford woman I know that Government members elected by the people of Wexford, including the Minister of State, Deputy James Browne, who has just returned to the Chamber, are well aware that all of Wexford is united behind this small group of fishers and the many who live in our fishing communities. Those who work in the only scallop processing plant in the country, based in Kilmore Quay, are also full-square behind them. We have the best fish restaurants in the country because of our fishers and I am going to name some of them because they deserve it. They depend on the seven boats that the Government may see as representing only seven votes. I will name all of the restaurants I can because those who work in them, their families, communities and county have votes. We have La Côte in Wexford town, the Lobster Pot in Carne, Sharky's Fish and Chips which has become a well-known chain, the Silver Fox and Mary Barry's in Kilmore Quay, the Strand Tavern in Duncannon, The Hollow in Ramsgrange, Byrne's in Ballyhack and Greenacres in Wexford town which has won the best seafood chowder award. These are all family-run businesses, supporting the community and based on our fishing sector and seven boats. I implore the Minister to take that on board and consider the communities in which those seven boats are involved. I am available to discuss this issue with the Minister, the Government or departmental officials at any time.

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