Martin Ferris (Kerry North, Sinn Fein)
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Question 414: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if, in view of the Commission proposals of 17 October 2007, she has an estimate of the scale of illegal fishing within Irish waters both by non EU and EU based vessels. [25442/07]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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I very much welcome the initiative from the EU Commission to address the challenge of international trade and Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated fishing.

Ireland has a very important position as custodian of some of the largest and richest waters within the EU but also in our location on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean. Ireland continues to maintain high standards in the enforcement of regulations within the Exclusive Fisheries Zone using the resources of both our Naval Service and Air Corps. The use of these resources with the addition of satellite monitoring of all fishing vessels both EU and Non-EU allows a high level of monitoring and surveillance of our waters. As partners in the regional fisheries management organisation NEAFC, Ireland continues to provide monitoring resources to assist in detection of IUU activity in the Atlantic Ocean beyond EU boundaries.

In 2007 the Naval Service has detected infringements on 12 vessels which resulted in their detention. All vessels were from EU Member States.