John Perry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 352: To ask the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources the reason fishermen who use small boats, those under 26 ft. are not permitted to use nets alongside pots; if these fishermen are allowed to catch quota species; the number of restrictions which apply to small boat fishermen; if the Government has made any concerted effort in the past nine years to make the regulation process for small boat fishermen more accessible and easier to navigate; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10044/06]

John Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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Inshore fishing vessels are divided into two groups on the basis of the licences which they hold. Those registered in the full polyvalent category may fish with both pots and nets and can catch quota species. However, those vessels licensed under the scheme for the licensing of traditional pot fishing boats in the Irish inshore fleet are restricted to fishing non-quota species by means of pots only. This scheme was introduced in 2003 to permit the regularisation of a significant number of inshore fishing vessels which had been operating on an unlicensed basis.

In drawing up the terms of that scheme, due consideration had to be given to the interests of those fishermen that had been properly licensed and registered and who had, in many cases, incurred considerable expenditure in purchasing replacement capacity to register their vessels. Therefore, to maintain an appropriate differentiation between those vessels with full polyvalent entitlements, which in the majority of cases had paid considerable sums of money to license their vessels, and those vessels to be licensed under this scheme, restrictions on fishing using nets and catching quota species was applied to licences issued under the 2003 scheme. Data from an earlier scheme showed that in fact an extremely small percentage of applicants seeking to have their vessels registered under the scheme had actually fished with nets and accordingly the number of vessels affected by that restriction was relatively small. An additional factor in the setting of this restriction was the general need to avoid an increase in fishing effort on quota species where many such stocks were already under pressure.

In so far as making the regulatory process more navigable and user friendly to inshore fishermen, the Bord Iascaigh Mhara network of officers around the coast has been of great assistance in this regard. These officers provide important assistance and advice to inshore fishermen at a local level.