Dáil debates

Tuesday, 8 July 2014

Topical Issue Debate

Fisheries Protection

5:45 pm

Photo of Martin FerrisMartin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein)
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On 28 June, for the second time in a month, the same fishing vessel was arrested and brought in by the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority, SFPA. As the Minister knows probably better than I, Kilmore Quay is a small fishing village whose entire vibrancy and economy are built around the small fishing sector. Whether it is the number of people employed, both onshore and offshore, or the ancillary services, such as oil deliveries, other service deliveries and food deliveries for the fishermen, all of it is intertwined. The whole community is totally dependent on the success of fishing.

A number of years ago the issue of discards and by-catch came to a head when fishermen from Kilmore Quay landed discards and gave them away. Many people believe that, as a consequence, they have been targeted by the SFPA, which is probably embarrassed. In any case, the perception is there, true or otherwise. I do not know of any fishing vessel that has had any serious charges made against it as a consequence of fishing.

When they landed the discarded fish and gave it away, this generated a wider debate among the public about how so many tonnes of good fish were being dumped overboard on a daily basis. It created that conversation and debate both within the country and further afield, and maybe they can claim some credit in regard to the negotiations around the proposals to try to alleviate the discards problem in the coming years, not to take anything away from the Minister, Deputy Coveney.

My point is that this is a community totally dependent on the fishing sector for survival. It is a very vibrant community and the fishing sector provides a lot of employment, onshore in particular. However, people who are trying their best to make a living are being handicapped by the lack of proper quota. All of this is contributing to the frustration and anger that is felt by the people involved in the sector, who are finding it hard to make a living. They have had a terrible time, with the whole fishing sector closed down from mid-December through to well into March, when nothing could happen because of the weather. As is well documented, there were the consequences of the storms, including their effect on the pier structures in the area. These people are just trying to make a living, not just for themselves but for the community.

The big problem is lack of quota. While it has been an ongoing problem for decades, something has to be done in order to ensure these people will have adequate quota to make a proper living and to survive in the industry. If they do not survive, that is another generation gone. It is this sector, not the big herring and mackerel sectors, that is suffering the consequences of very bad negotiations going back over the decades.

Photo of Simon CoveneySimon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I know he is genuine in this regard as we have previously discussed his connection with the fishing industry.

Everyone wants more quota. Whether it is a whitefish boat, a mackerel boat or any other part of the quota fleet here in Ireland, everyone wants more quota. The quota for Ireland this year is more valuable than it has ever been at over €250 million, and it was something similar last year.

I will always try to maximise the quota opportunities for Irish fishermen. I will always talk this industry up and work with it to maximise employment and income opportunities for fishermen. However, I will not accept that because people are frustrated at a lack of quota, they can break the rules. Breaking the rules means that other people lose out. To be consistent with European law, the primary responsibility in terms of enforcement lies with the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority, SFPA, which is an independent law enforcement agency of the State. I do not get involved in its day-to-day operations, nor should I. It has a difficult job to do but its job is to provide a level playing field for everybody. If one boat, or two or six boats, are overfishing deliberately, that is not a victimless crime. It has an impact on others who are law-abiding and who are catching according to the quotas allocated to them when less quota is allocated the following month, because catches outside of quota count towards the calculation of the quotas allocated on a monthly basis, in a process in which the industry is involved. If we are unable to comply with the rules we negotiated last year, this also fundamentally undermines my position in December when I am trying to negotiate better quotas and improved total allowable catch, TAC, for fishing fleets around the coast.

The company at the centre of the case raised by the Deputy unfortunately has a history of non-compliance. Repeated infringements have arisen around quota, log books and sales regulations. There are some 54 files awaiting hearing before Irish courts. In 2013, the SFPA took the exceptional step of directing all of this company's vessels to port as a reaction to persistent non-compliance. Following a solemn undertaking by the company directors after a meeting I had with them to work within the requirements of the law, the company was allowed to resume fishing. However, less than a week later the infringements recommenced, and there have been six infringements detected on this company's vessels since the beginning of this year. SFPA officers have endured verbal abuse on an ongoing basis from the company's employees and directors in some cases and also, I am sorry to hear, from some public representatives simply for implementing EU and national law involving quota allocations recommended by the industry itself on a monthly basis.

The SFPA has an obligation under EU rules to link historical non-compliance with current levels of inspection. In other words, a risk assessment of boats is carried out in terms of likelihood of breaking the rules. The more infringements a boat has had in the past, the more inspections it will get in the future, until it proves that it is compliant over time. That is not a voluntary policy option for the SFPA. It is a requirement under EU rules.

There is a problem in Kilmore Quay. It is a great little town that relies on fishing. The companies involved here employ many people and they are a very valuable contributor to the economy in the south east, but we must apply the rules to everybody equally. The policing authority that ensures there is a fair playing field for every fisherman out there must apply the rules according to EU regulations. That means that the more infringements boats have had in the past, the more inspections they will get in the future in the medium term until the number of infringements changes. There is an onus here on everybody, and particularly on public representatives from all political parties, to be consistent in ensuring that we are implementing the rules fairly, so that everybody complies with the same rules. We cannot allow some people to do what they want because of frustrations with a lack of quota. That is what has happened here. I strongly support the SFPA in its efforts to ensure that everybody gets fair treatment. I want to encourage anybody who is breaking the rules to stop doing so because they are fundamentally undermining the industry when that happens.

5:55 pm

Photo of Martin FerrisMartin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister for his answer. As someone who was involved in the industry, I know the difficulties fishermen endure on a daily basis and the risks they take. I also know how difficult it is to be heavily in debt and trying to meet payments, by they to BIM or any other financial company. I am also very much aware of the responsibility that boat owners have to their crew and community. One would assume from the Minister's answer that these people are criminals.

Photo of Simon CoveneySimon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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No; that is not what I said.

Photo of Martin FerrisMartin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein)
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He said they were breaking the rules. One would assume they were criminals. They are people out in the ocean fishing to make a living who have many obligations to live up to. It is not always possible to do so due to the weather or because they are unable to get their logs in on time. They could be minor misdemeanours. What I find impossible to understand is that there is a requirement under EU law for the SFPA to carry out more inspections on a person with a history. I think that is disgraceful. We are not talking about people who have done anything terribly wrong. They may be slightly over quota, may have had some discard on board or may not have logged in properly, but there are no serious charges against any one of these people that I know of.

Photo of Simon CoveneySimon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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They are not all small charges.

Photo of Martin FerrisMartin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein)
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I do not accept that. There is no evidence against them. Go further south and one will found EU vessels that are probably never inspected.

Photo of Simon CoveneySimon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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That is not true either.

Photo of Martin FerrisMartin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein)
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It happens off my coast.

Photo of Seán KennySeán Kenny (Dublin North East, Labour)
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The Deputy is over his time.

Photo of Martin FerrisMartin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein)
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There are EU vessels fishing off my coast which have not been inspected, while the local fisherman or fisherwoman finds him- or herself-----

Photo of Seán KennySeán Kenny (Dublin North East, Labour)
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The Deputy is over his time.

Photo of Simon CoveneySimon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I would love to continue this conversation with the Deputy. Perhaps I could do so afterwards, because this is something I feel very strongly about. The EU regulation in question, which is Article 98 of Regulation (EU) No. 404/2011, requires member states' controlled authorities to adopt a risk-based approach for the selection of inspection targets using all available information. It can be expected that if records indicate that an operator has a history of serious non-compliance, the operator will face additional inspections at sea and in port for a period of time until the records show that the operator has changed behaviour and is generally compliant. The records show that in 2013 and 2014, there were 66 infringements in the south eastern area of the country, 41 of which were associated with boats linked to the company whose concerns the Deputy is raising today.

Photo of Martin FerrisMartin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein)
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What were the infringements?

Photo of Simon CoveneySimon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I can get the Deputy a list of them. There are 41 of them, so I am not going to start listing them here today. I would like to think that there is nobody in this House who is more concerned about the future of the fishing industry than me. I worked tirelessly to ensure that we got the best possible deal in a Common Fisheries Policy. We have more than doubled our European Maritime and Fisheries Fund from the €70 million negotiated by the last Government to €148 million this year, and we will match or part-match that fund with Exchequer money, which needs to be negotiated over the summer.

Photo of Martin FerrisMartin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein)
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Over how many years?

Photo of Simon CoveneySimon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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That is between now and 2020, until the end of the Common Fisheries Policy. The point I am making is that we want to support the fishing industry in Kilmore Quay and elsewhere, but we must ensure that people abide by the rules. If we do not ensure that and if people consider this a free-for-all, we will simply lose control of the management of stocks, we will have no fishing industry in the future and fishermen themselves will become deeply divided in terms of the way in which quotas are managed and fished. We need consistency here and we are trying to get it in Kilmore Quay. There is a problem in the south east from an enforcement and infringement point of view which needs to be resolved. Public representatives have a responsibility to help in that effort rather than frustrate it.