Tom Shehan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Will the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine request the European Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries to put into law a requirement that any member state’s fishing vessels entering or operating in another member state’s waters be required to inform that member state’s authority by phone, fax or ERRS, electronic recording and reporting system, of each vessel's quotas, its list of quota species and its area of operation prior to beginning its fishing operations.

As it stands, when the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority or the Naval Service boards another EU member state's fishing vessel in Irish waters, all its catches will be logged. This is required of all fishing vessels. The problem is these two agencies do not know these vessels' allowable catches. TACs, total allowable catches, are issued to each member state which then allocates a quota to a fishing vessel. However, the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority and the Naval Service do not know what are their quotas.

I want to level the playing pitch for all boats fishing in our waters. The lack of this information is making the job of the two agencies in question impossible. Some of the vessels they inspect are enormous. One talks about running around a football field. Running around one of these vessels would be the same as running around six football fields. In the interests of clarity and fairness, I am calling for this change to fishing regulations. It will give enforcement agencies what they need to implement and regulate fishing in our waters.