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Results 1-16 of 16 for sfpa segment:6840682

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Annual Report of Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority: Discussion (27 Jun 2017)

Pat Deering: From the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority, SFPA, I welcome Dr. Susan Steele, chairperson, and Mr. Andrew Kinneen and Mr. Micheál O'Mahony, authority members. I thank them for coming before the joint committee to brief members on the SFPA's annual report for 2015. I bring to their attention that witnesses are protected by absolute privilege in respect of the evidence they give to the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Annual Report of Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority: Discussion (27 Jun 2017)

Dr. Susan Steele: I thank the joint committee for the invitation. I will begin by addressing the late submission of our annual report for 2015. In the past the SFPA has been cited as the reason for our failure to meet the statutory deadline for the submission of annual reports. We have taken this matter seriously and are committed to, and have demonstrated, an improvement in our...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Annual Report of Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority: Discussion (27 Jun 2017)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: .... The fishing community is aggrieved because its members believe they have been criminalised under legislation. There have been stand-offs at various ports between fishing communities and SFPA officials. Perhaps the problem is with the legislators, given that the authority is simply enforcing the legislation. I refer to super trawlers. Those of us who live in coastal communities...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Annual Report of Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority: Discussion (27 Jun 2017)

Charlie McConalogue: I thank the SFPA for the presentation. I have a question on the issue of penalty point applications. I know this has been an ongoing issue. There has been a lot of anger from fisherman about the fact that, when penalty points are applied, they are applied immediately. Even if the fishermen in question are eventually acquitted in any subsequent court case, the penalty points still stand....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Annual Report of Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority: Discussion (27 Jun 2017)

Martin Kenny: ...as they are known. I understand that rather than simply discarding dead fish, these super trawlers mince the fish before pumping them back out. This means they will not be seen. Does the SFPA have the powers and ability to board these vessels easily and frequently to check that such practices are not taking place? Speaking to fishermen and fishing organisations around the coast, they...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Annual Report of Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority: Discussion (27 Jun 2017)

Willie Penrose: What triggers an SFPA inspection or invigilation? What proportion of small vessels to big vessels are inspected? It is very easy for supervisory invigilations to catch the small person engaging in minimal offences. According to some of my colleagues here who are quite expert in this area, the larger vessel can escape and do far more damage. Senator Daly is correct in his comments on...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Annual Report of Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority: Discussion (27 Jun 2017)

...regard to their fish-catching entitlement. It requires going aboard those vessels to verify that. We are very concerned about this and some years ago, the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority, SFPA, took the initiative to get control experts from all over Europe on this particular question to look at what measures might be brought in place to make a more level playing field. The other...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Annual Report of Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority: Discussion (27 Jun 2017)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: ...focusing on this vessel only because it is the second largest vessel in the world and it gives rise to great concern when it is off our coast. It was said earlier that, under European regulations, SFPA officers cannot be on board a vessel for longer than four hours and that the authority has the power to call a vessel to port, but to do that it must demonstrate reasonable cause. Do the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Annual Report of Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority: Discussion (27 Jun 2017)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: Thank you for your patience, Chairman. I appreciate it. I will be very brief. Could I propose that the SFPA would make a submission to our committee outlining ways or ideas it has for strengthening its ability, including the need for additional resources? We can then put that submission to the Minister. Is that a reasonable request?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Annual Report of Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority: Discussion (27 Jun 2017)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: I am asking the SFPA as practitioners.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Annual Report of Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority: Discussion (27 Jun 2017)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: Could I propose then that the SFPA would do as suggested? Could I also propose that the committee would write to the Minister asking him from a policy perspective to address the issues that we have raised here today? Most if not all of us have raised concerns about super trawlers.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Annual Report of Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority: Discussion (27 Jun 2017)

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn: In terms of the specific issues here, could I ask that the committee will write to the Minister asking for assurances? In fairness to the SFPA, the witnesses have said they are limited to a policy perspective.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Annual Report of Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority: Discussion (27 Jun 2017)

Pat Deering: The SFPA can confine itself to the areas with which it is comfortable and that are not prevented under the legislation. Is that okay?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Annual Report of Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority: Discussion (27 Jun 2017)

Charlie McConalogue: The SFPA carried out 2,500 fishing vessel inspections last year. A total of 80% of the fish caught in Irish waters is landed in other countries. Are the type of ships to which Senator Mac Lochlainn referred all in the category that catch the 80%? It was indicated that 12 to 15 inspections were carried out last year and this year on super trawlers. What proportion of the catch is caught by...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Annual Report of Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority: Discussion (27 Jun 2017)

...will have seen when we spoke about the annual report, last year we signed 6,100 health certificates which were for export to countries outside Europe. This is a huge responsibility for the SFPA. Again, we can see more work in that area in the future. As everyone is watching what will happen with negotiations and the outcome, we are looking at the possibilities and what resources will be...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Annual Report of Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority: Discussion (27 Jun 2017)

...to record discards so that we have an idea of what is being dealt with. We cannot say this has been a success despite our efforts at persuasion. There have been port meetings held by the SFPA and our parent Department to try to explain this quite complex regulation to the fishermen. I would say that there is a lot of work to be done in this area. We could not claim that this is an area...

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