Willie Penrose (Westmeath, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 143: To ask the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources if he will report to Dáil Éireann on the European Commission's decision on the herring and mackerel quotas from 2007 to 2012 and on the EU review of the management of deep-sea stocks fisheries including orange roughy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11365/07]

John Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Following police raids in autumn 2005 on fish factories in Scotland, the United Kingdom fisheries control authorities reported that over 41,000 tonnes of mackerel (worth at least €49 million in current prices) had been landed illegally into Scotland in unreported landings by large Irish trawlers over the 2001-2005 period. There were also large scale reported illegal landings by United Kingdom vessels of both mackerel and herring.

As a consequence, in early 2006, the Commission reduced the Irish mackerel quota for 2006 by over 6,500 tonnes to take account of the illegal landings reported in respect of 2005. I and my officials began detailed negotiations with the Commission in 2006 in relation to paying back the 33,486 tonnes of unreported mackerel landed by Irish vessels into Scotland in the 2001-2004 period.

My objective in these negotiations was to deliver pay back arrangements that minimised the impact on the majority of fishermen who had little or nothing to do with the illegal fishing, to set the reductions at reasonable levels and to spread those reductions over 6 years from 2007 to 2012. They were successfully concluded in January this year. Ireland's 2007 mackerel quota has been reduced by 3,687 tonnes as a result and quotas for 2008 to 2012 will be reduced by 4,178 tonnes annually to take account of the required pay back.

The Irish herring quotas are set on an annual basis at the December EU Council meeting. The Irish quotas for 2007 were set at just over 34,000 tonnes in all areas. As Ireland was not implicated in the undeclared landings of herring into Scotland, no deductions were applied by the Commission to these quotas.

In January this year, the European Commission adopted a review of deep-sea species management measures that have been in place since 2002, when quotas were introduced for these species. The review report concluded that the implementation of the measures had been too poor to adequately protect deep sea stocks and that further cuts are inevitable.

The main conclusions can be summarised as follows. Many deep-sea stocks have such a low productivity rate that current catch levels are probably too low to allow economically viable fishing. Also, it takes such a long while for stocks to recover (as such species take a long while to grow and live a long time) that any reduction in fishing must be considered as a permanent measure and not just a way to increase catches in the longer term. The 2005 quotas were not fully used (percentage take up per fishing zone ranged from 13-61% for deep-sea sharks, 10-98% for scabbardfish, 13-75% for tusk, 8-79% for grenadier, 23-76% for orange roughy, and 5-98% for blueling). For the long-term management of deep-sea stocks, Total Allowable Catches (TACs) must be complemented by other measures, such as fishing restrictions. The Commission was critical of member states in relation to the implementation of protection measures for orange roughy (there is a prohibited fishing zone, located to the west of the United Kingdom and Ireland).

The findings of the Review have been communicated to the Parliament and Council and, together with the scientific advice, will likely inform future policy decisions on the management and exploitation of deep-sea species.

TACs and Quotas for deep sea species are set for two years at a time. Ireland's total deep-sea quotas, set at the November 2006 EU Fisheries Council, amount to 902 tonnes for both 2007 and 2008, compared to 1,416 tonnes in both 2005 and 2006. Ireland's catches of orange roughy had decreased to 96 tonnes in 2005 and in 2006 were just 38.4 tonnes. Ireland's quota for this stock is 49 tonnes in both 2007 and 2008.

However, quotas for other deep-sea stocks of importance to Ireland such as black scabbard and roundnose grenadier were unchanged for 2007 and 2008 and there remain good fishing opportunities for Ireland's fishing vessels targeting deep-sea stocks.