Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I know he is familiar with this issue. He has been to County Donegal, to Killybegs and to Greencastle, where he met with fishermen from the whitefish sector. In the time since he was there, this has become more of a problem, affecting boat owners with boats of 12 metres and less, and fishermen who do a little bit of whitefishing or catching dogfish. They stay away from cod, which is the key point in this matter. We are all interested in sustainability and in the preservation of stocks. When Europe hears of whitefish, it hears cod. We are all interested in the preservation of cod. We all want this and the fishermen agree to it. However, there are other whitefish that can be fished in the Irish seas.

We must get the point across to the Minister of State and show him that the present system and interpretation of EU guidelines is not satisfactory in terms of conservation, sustainability and best practice. I will leave it for my colleague to talk about the ins and outs of best practice by the fishermen with regard to the quota system. Rather than days at sea per boat we must look at quantity of fish. Fishermen know when to fish, where to fish and how best to fish. They are the ambassadors of the sea and the people who know best practice. In dealing with the whitefish sector and the overall fishing sector we have left the fishermen out of the loop, even though there are representative bodies.

We must start heeding the guidance of the whitefish fishermen and acknowledge that they are more interested in the quantity quota per fish species rather than days at sea. Unfortunately, we do not have time, but concerning the interpretation of Council Regulation EC/237/2002, the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food must explain itself and its methodology. The allocations are completely unsatisfactory in respect of both scope and scale. I hope we can see some movement on this matter in the response of the Minister of State.

Dinny McGinley (Donegal South West, Fine Gael)
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I welcome the presence of the Minister of State for this important item. The whitefish sector in the north west is severely hampered by the imposition of the Kw days at sea requiremen which came into legal effect on 1 February 2009. In addition to the Kw days at sea regulation, the north-west whitefish sector was hit also by a new set of technical conservation measures agreed at the December 2008 Fisheries Council. The combined effect of these measures means that local vessels which have traditionally fished in the area will no longer have a sufficient number of days to do so. For a large part of the same area, the increases in mesh sizes mean that their mix of fisheries is no longer possible. This is the death knell for the whitefish sector in the north west with the loss of hundreds of jobs unless its effect is immediately reversed.

We are told by the EU Commission that the days at sea regulations relate to a need to protect the cod fishery. If this is the case, why should these rules apply to vessels that do not catch cod or have a very small by-catch? Like my colleague, Deputy McHugh, I am from Donegal and I am fully aware of the importance of the fishing industry to the county. I find it very difficult to understand why these restrictions have been imposed on Irish vessels with negligible cod catches. The whitefish industry in the north west is very important to fishing ports such as Killybegs and Deputy McHugh's Greencastle and is providing much-needed employment at sea and ashore in these ports.

In this time of economic crisis and the need to protect jobs, it is absolutely essential that the Minister of State, Deputy Killeen, ensures the whitefish sector in the north west is not wiped out. I am calling on the Minister of State to apply immediately for exemptions and derogations for the Kw days at sea and the mesh size increases for Irish vessels fishing in the north west. It is totally unacceptable that French, UK and Spanish vessels have more Kw days at sea in our area and are able to continue to fish when our vessels are tied up due to insufficient days. The Minister of State must surely agree that this is not right and must be immediately addressed. I am calling on him to work with the fishing industry, the Marine Institute and BIM to ensure a viable whitefish industry in the north west.

Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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Gabhaim buíochas don Teachta as ucht deis a thabhairt dom freagra a thabhairt ar an ábhair tábhachtach seo. The Irish fishing industry is wholly dependent on the state of the fish stocks in the Irish zone and in many ways the health of the industry is directly linked to the health of the stocks, which are the bedrock on which the industry is founded. The decline in fish stocks has not happened overnight; there have been warning signs for some time. Clearly, this is a European issue and actions to address declining fish stocks and ensure sustainable fishing practices must be taken at the EU Council table.

My ultimate aim is to have our fish stocks at high levels and in a healthy state so that they can sustain our industry and coastal communities. The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, ICES, the competent international authority on fish stocks, has advised that fish stocks in EU waters including those around our coast are in decline, with a near complete collapse of cod stocks in the areas VIa, west of Scotland, and VIIa, Irish Sea. This assessment is supported by the Marine Institute at national level.

The EU Fisheries Councils in November and December 2008 adopted a new cod recovery plan, as set out in Council Regulation (EC) No. 1342/2008 and Annex Ila of the 2009 TAC and Quota Regulation (EC) No 43/2009. These regulations are applicable to the fishing fleets of all member states fishing with specified fishing gears in the relevant sea areas. Under these regulations, Ireland and other relevant member states are required to introduce and implement a licensing regime to manage its allocation of fishing effort — days at sea limits in areas VIa and VIIa for vessels using specified gear types.

The 2009 TAC and Quota Regulation (EC) No 43/2009 also sets down the level of quotas each member state is entitled to for 2009. These TACs and quotas were adopted by the EU Fisheries Council taking account of the scientific advice available. In Ireland we distribute these whitefish quotas among our vessels taking account of vessel size. This is done at the monthly whitefish quota advisory committee meetings. This committee comprises members of the FIF, the Irish Fishermen's Organisation, the SFPA, in addition to officials from my Department. Every attempt is made to maintain a consensus on what management arrangements are put in place for the following month by species, by area and by vessel size.

With respect to the issue of the new days at sea scheme, my Department, following consultations but not agreement, with representatives of the Irish fishing industry, introduced a pilot system of authorisations and allocations of fishing effort for the period 1 February 2009 to 30 April 2009. The pilot scheme as originally introduced was based on the following: authorisation to fish and allocation of effort days to be determined by track record of vessels; vessels "best year" for the period 2005 to 2008 to establish its track record; track record divided into bands of effort and, depending on the band the vessel fits into, allowing the associated number of effort days for that band for the period; effort days allocation to be divided for the year based on the past fishing pattern of all Irish vessels in the area, for example, if the spring season is important the effort allocation now given will reflect that pattern; effort not used to come back into the national pot for future allocation. The establishment of track record was based on log book data and has not taken account of any sale or transfer of vessels or capacity. Any owners in this situation are asked to write to the Department with details which will be examined and effort will be issued if the vessel meets the criteria established above. Effort will be allocated as a specified number of days at sea which is defined in the regulation as, "a day present within an area shall be any continuous period of 24 hours or part thereof during which a vessel is present within the area and absent from port". The actual effort will be calculated as the kilowatt of the vessel by the number of days.

I have also already agreed to some amendments as recommended by the Federation of Irish Fishermen to the original pilot scheme as introduced on 1 February. These amendments cover the treatment of vessels with minimal track record in the areas covered by the scheme and also for the allocation of days at sea to vessels that changed length category from under 10 metres to over 10 metres and less than 12 metres, which can show they have an active track record of fishing in the areas covered by the scheme during the reference periods 2004 to 2008.

I appreciate that the introduction of these new conservation measures is a considerable challenge and I have established a steering group, which I announced at the Greencastle meeting, involving the Federation of Irish Fishermen, the Irish Fishermen's Organisation, the Department and its agencies, to provide support to the industry in relation to the practical implementation of these new measures. The effort allocations already made were done on a pilot basis only and I am happy to make amendments where proposed by the steering group within the EU legal framework that has been established. I hope that the arrangements proposed when the current pilot expires at the end of April will reflect more closely the views of fishermen and the nature of the fishing fleet and available fishing opportunities. In addition, I have asked the steering group to consider the options for providing additional days to fishing vessels on the basis of their undertaking specific additional conservation measures in both areas as provided for in the EU regulations. The steering group has met a number of times already and is examining possible options that would allow vessels additional days at sea where cod avoidance measures as mentioned by the Deputies, are introduced or where highly selective gear that avoids the catching of cod is introduced. The group has also recommended that vessels which have a very low catch of cod, less than 1% by catch, be exempted completely from the effort regime. I will pursue with the EU Commission all such proposals and the suggestions made by the Deputies and I have already made a submission to the Commission, for the exclusion of the vessels with a catch of cod of less than 1%.

During the December Council, the Commission also proposed a complete closure on all whitefish fishing in the waters off Donegal. The measures would have severely impacted on our whitefish fishermen in the north west. Following intensive negotiations, a package of measures were agreed that both delivered strong conservation measures for the cod, whiting and haddock stocks in decline while facilitating the continuation of important fishing activities for the Irish fleet. I secured in particular some concessions for smaller vessels which allowed them to employ a mesh size of 110 mm rather than the 120 mm which must be used by all other vessels targeting whitefish. I fully appreciate that the change-over to larger mesh fishing gear will impact significantly on the fish catch of these vessels.