Tom Hayes (Tipperary South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine apologises that he is unavailable to take this matter as he is in Brussels dealing with fisheries issues.

All EU fishing vessels must comply with all regulations relating to the Common Fisheries policy, CFP, including reporting of catches and respecting technical measures. The CFP sets out roles for the authorities of member states in ensuring compliance by fishing vessels with their obligations. There are roles for the flag state, the country in which the vessel is registered, the coastal state, the country with jurisdiction over the waters from which the fish are taken, and the port state, the country to which the fish are landed. In addition to a role as a flag state, Ireland has substantial obligations as a coastal state to verify compliance by all vessels fishing in the Irish exclusive fisheries zone.

The annual TAC and quota regulation sets out the quotas for each stock available to member states. The distribution of the stock among the vessels of the member states is a matter for the national authorities in each member state. Accordingly, it is a matter for each member state to manage the available quotas and make it available to its fleet in an appropriate manner.The monitoring of uptake against national quotas is a matter largely for the flag member state.

In recent years, fisheries control within the EU has been structured so as to deliver a level playing field across member states. In October 2009, the EU adopted a new regime dealing with fisheries controls in the EU. Council Regulation 1224/2009 establishes a community control system for delivering compliance with the rules of the Common Fisheries Policy. Control and inspection is now focused where it is most effective through an approach based on systematic risk analysis. Inspection procedures are standardised and harmonised.

The controls that are available for a coastal state comprise remote-sensed data monitoring, ongoing risk analysis, and at-sea inspections. The types of remote-sensed data available to Ireland as coastal state for non-Irish vessels include the output of the vessel monitoring system, VMS, and the electronic logbook recording system, ERS. The VMS system transmits position, heading and speed to the flag state which should make it available to any relevant coastal states. The ERS system transmits the catch retained on board every midnight to the flag state and onto the coastal state. In other words, Ireland's control authorities can see what vessels are in the Irish exclusive fisheries zone at any time. It has access to details of catches logged for every day the vessel is fishing in the Irish exclusive fisheries zone. These data are monitored to identify any indicators of non-compliance, and the Irish Naval Service, assisted by SFPA, perform at-sea inspections taking account of this information.

The introduction of electronic logbooks is a significant milestone in fisheries control and the access to catches logged each day is an important control tool. Ireland would like to see the co-operation between member states in the sharing of this information further strengthened, in particular to give the coastal state access to all catches by the vessel on a trip when any component falls within the Irish exclusive fisheries zone. Ireland has strongly pursued compliance with this provision at EU level to tighten up the data provision requirements. This objective is being pursued at EU level and will, in any case, be pursued in the Commission's upcoming review of the application of the EU control regulation.

The Irish authorities are key players in collaborative fishery control in the form of specific control and inspection programmes co-ordinated by the European Fisheries Control Agency. A specific example is the ongoing plan in the substantial pelagic fisheries off the Irish coast in north-western EU waters. These pelagic vessels have legitimate access to the Irish exclusive fisheries zone where they fish extensively. Their catching capacity and onboard processing facilities mean they pose particular risks and challenges in the verification of compliance. These joined-up EU control missions are very useful in delivering targeted control operations to high-risk fisheries and Ireland will continue to contribute to this type of EU operation.

Ireland's control responsibilities both as a flag member state and a coastal member state are taken very seriously and Irish authorities continue to work to promote a culture of compliance throughout the exclusive fisheries zone and wider.