Dáil debates

Thursday, 17 November 2016

5:55 pm

Photo of Martin KennyMartin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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The bluefin tuna is not a fish that many people in the Chamber or throughout the country would have come across. It is quite a rare, but valuable, fish. Only one tenth of Irish territory is made up of the island of Ireland, with nine tenths of it lying out in the ocean and affording many possibilities for Irish fishermen to make money. The bluefin tuna is a fish that offers huge opportunity because, although quite rare, it is extremely expensive. I understand that a fully grown bluefin tuna can fetch prices of up to €100,000 on the Japanese market.

We are seeking a small quota for Irish fishermen to catch this lucrative fish. Vessels from other countries are allowed to catch bluefin tuna in our waters. We support the introduction of a bluefin tuna tag-and-release research programme, so that we will be able to gather evidence to support the case for a quota for Ireland. We have called for it in the past, as well as for the opening of recreational bluefin fisheries in Donegal, in particular, and other areas throughout the country and also a catch-and-release programme. There is huge potential for job creation and the boosting of our regional tourism in this regard.

The Department with responsibility for the marine has ruled out negotiating for the bluefin tuna quota on the grounds that there is no basis for Ireland to receive such a quota. If we do not seek it in a proactive way, we will never get it. That is the issue. It was stated earlier that people were trying to find common ground on issues. We should be able to find common ground - or common water, as it were - so that we can seek this quota.

Ireland has a very small possibility of catching bluefin tuna. I am informed by many fishermen that there are many more of them in our waters than was the case in the past. Whether it is a result of global warming or some other issue, in recent years quite a number of them have been sighted by Irish fishermen up and down the west coast, in particular, in St. George's channel and in the Irish Sea. Recently, eight of them were caught off the coast of Wexford. Unfortunately, because there is no Irish quota, the entire catch had to be sold for €5,000. Those fish could have been worth €800,000. This was a huge amount of money for those involved to lose and it was all because of the absence of a quota.

I understand that there will be a meeting in December to negotiate and establish quotas. I am asking for the Government to seek a bluefin tuna quota, even if just for the recreational sector. Ireland could then at least have a space in all of this. As with many other areas for Irish fishermen, they see French, Spanish and Portuguese fishermen catching these fish, yet they are not allowed to do so. That is inappropriate. I appeal to the Minister to find a way and to fight hard for even a small recreational quota for Irish fishermen to be able to catch bluefin tuna.

Photo of Michael CreedMichael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Martin Kenny for raising this important and interesting matter. The bluefin tuna is a highly regulated species and the situation is extremely contentious at EU and international level. The annual catch limits are set by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, ICCAT, based on scientific advice. Due to the severely depleted slate of the stock, a management plan was put in place by ICCAT in 2007. This resulted in greatly reduced annual catch limits in the Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic Ocean in an effort to rebuild stocks. It is only in the past few years that the stock has begun to show improvement for the first time since the establishment of the recovery plan.

Within the EU, quota shares for bluefin tuna were allocated in the late 1990s to member states based on track record. Ireland, which did not have a track record of fishing for bluefin tuna, does not have a dedicated quota. We do, however, have access to a small by-catch quota of 39 tonnes for 2016 for bluefin tuna in our albacore tuna and pelagic fisheries only. It must be stressed, however, that this by-catch quota is also available to other member states and cannot be used for any targeted fishery including recreational and/or sport fisheries under any circumstances.

In terms of Ireland seeking to acquire a dedicated blue fin tuna quota, the only way we could obtain a quota would be to reach agreement within the EU to reallocate to us a portion of the EU total allowable catch, TAC. This would be extremely difficult as it would involve reducing the share of the total allowable catch of those EU member states that do have quota and for which bluefin tuna is an important commercial fishery in which they have had an established track record. These constraints apply also to any attempt by Ireland or others to increase the by-catch quota as any increase would have to come off the total EU allocation.

I have recently made funds available to allow the Marine Institute, with the support of the European Commission, to engage actively in developing Ireland’s involvement in the ICCAT Atlantic-wide research programme relating to bluefin tuna.

With these funds, Ireland is currently participating in an ICCAT sanctioned scientific tag and release research programme on bluefin tuna in the waters off the north-west coast. This is a scientific research project to assess the abundance and distribution of bluefin tuna in the waters off the Irish coast. In future, and depending on the results of the project, it may prove possible to extend the scope of the project. I appreciate the situation that there is growing abundance of bluefin tuna in the waters around Ireland. Deputy Kenny has alluded to that. I have asked my Department to explore any possible opportunity to increase the by-catch quota allocation particularly in light of the discards ban which applies to this species. In terms of seeking a dedicated quota for our recreational fishery or a commercial quota, it is clear that the European Union obstacles are formidable. At European Union and ICCAT level, we are showing our commitment to building scientific knowledge of the stock that will provide information on its abundance and migratory pattern. However, bluefin tuna is one of the most high value and contentious stocks. Any suggestion that Ireland receive a share for a directed fishery will face huge opposition from member states with established shares who would lose a portion of their quotas.

The annual meeting of ICCAT is currently under way in Portugal and will conclude on 21 November 2016. As always, Ireland is being represented at this meeting and has participated in all of the relevant technical preparatory meetings, with assistance from the Marine Institute. This meeting deals with all Atlantic tuna stocks, including bluefin tuna. From an Irish point of view, our immediate primary concern is our valuable albacore fishery. This meeting will determine TAC levels for both albacore and bluefin tuna but it will not address any reallocation or the creation of new shares.

6:05 pm

Photo of Martin KennyMartin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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The research work going on in the north-west Atlantic on the catch, tag and release of bluefin tuna is welcome. It may help to establish what the stocks are like there. It is disappointing to say we do not expect to get anything out of it. We should be going into this in a much more forceful manner to try to ensure that our fishermen get a fair share. I said at the outset that nine tenths of the territory of Ireland is in the Atlantic Ocean and yet we find that other countries have access to those waters. Whatever those countries have done in the past - perhaps they caught these fish 30 or 40 years ago, built up some kind of a stock and are therefore able to make an argument for it - the fact is they are in our territorial waters doing it. That has to be taken into account.

With regard to Brexit, can the Minister inform us if Britain got any of this quota? Is that a possibility that we could look at in the future? The big issue here is the sense of unfairness that an awful lot of Irish people have about the whole notion of where the European Union has gone down the years and certainly in regard to our fisherman. We have all met them and we all know the grievances they have but our fishermen in particular feel very aggrieved that they are restricted in so many ways in which they can make a livelihood. They see huge trawlers coming in from other places, particularly from other European countries, making massive catches and just taking them away with them. There are all kinds of restrictions on them as well but the truth is our quota for much of our fishing is low compared to many of these other countries. With regard to bluefin tuna, it is very clear cut. There are a lot more of them in our waters now than there was. There is a possibility of looking for something here and we should be going out in an aggressive way to try at least to give some hope to the fishing community that the Irish Government will fight its corner. I implore the Minister to ensure we look for even a small quota in the recreational side of it to ensure bluefin tuna can be a fish that is very lucrative and which Irish fisherman can gain something from.

Photo of Michael CreedMichael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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As we face into the December Fisheries Council meeting, it is abundantly clear that science is the foundation on which decisions are made. Leaving aside the issue of bluefin tuna, the science is difficult to argue against. We face a very significant challenge in that context.

In the context of the Marine Institute's involvement here, what is happening is the building of a case but without the conclusions of the scientific research we are going nowhere. I will give the Deputy another example in the context of established track records in a fishery. Deputy McConalogue is here and he will be familiar with the pelagic fish sector. Killibegs has very significant involvement in that. If one was to argue that the fishery, which was established substantially on the basis of their efforts, should be reallocated to others, Deputy McConalogue knows what their view would be. It is understandable in the context that they have established a fishery on the basis of their endeavours over many years. The unfortunate truth about this is we did not have an established track record. There are issues around the migratory pattern of the species and its proliferation in Irish waters, which was not always the case. Whether it is due to science or global warming, it is the case. The Deputy alluded to the catch off Wexford. The Marine Institute is leading an effort to build the science. It is only when we have the conclusions of that science that we can proceed, whether it is an increase in the by-catch or the recreational catch and release, which would be significant for tourism and angling in particular. That will be the premise on which we proceed. The difficulty of expecting to go without the support of the science initially and then to have to overcome the ownership which others feel they have of this fishery because it was their endeavour that established it is not to be underestimated. We are taking the right steps.

Photo of Martin KennyMartin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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It included a conclusion of science.