Brian Leddin (Limerick City, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

While I welcome some aspects of the Bill, it is worth viewing it in the context of Irish fisheries policy and our approach to protecting our marine ecosystems. As legislators, we should always be cautious when introducing regulations that impose a bureaucratic burden on citizens. However, when we are considering the protection of the environment and ecosystems, we often frame the debate about environmental regulation as a false war between a busybody State which seeks to unfairly restrict the activities of the likes of farmers and fishermen and those who live off the land and sea who wish to carry on their activities to support their families without encumbrance. We need to wholeheartedly reject this argument. The protection of the environment and ecosystems is in all our interests. When we set up this false war one of the frequent outcomes, especially in the fisheries sector, is delay. This Bill is a result of the delay in introducing a points system in fisheries, a delay so large it resulted in the European Commission withholding funding refunds from the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund.

This is not the only area where we are in trouble for a delay in implementing measures to protect fish stocks. The European Commission has found that how we weigh catches of fish is inconsistent. We have serious faults in how we are implementing the discard ban and this is likely to be subject to a further infringement procedure.

Judicial review proceedings have been initiated to challenge the failure by the EU as a whole under the Common Fisheries Policy to meet a legally defined deadline of ending overfishing in all stocks by 2020. Irish Ministers have been found to lobby at EU level for increased overfishing and quotas beyond scientifically advised levels.

We know there are problems associated with pair trawling, a practice the Green Party wishes to see prohibited, and the marine environment continues to deteriorate due to continued release of plastic waste, including nets and fishing gear.

I understand and sympathise with the plight of the fishing industry, especially post-Brexit. I understand the desire to maintain income levels and reduce red tape. However, we simply have to change the way we approach this issue if we are to have any chance of future generations making a living from the sea. It is in all our interests to protect and restore our fish stocks and marine ecosystems. There is no future in a dead sea.

I welcome the Bill. I hope it will be the first of many Bills and initiatives in the fisheries area that will continue to protect our marine ecosystems and encourage a sustainable fishing industry.

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