Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 465: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if she is satisfied that the Irish coastal community with particular reference to families dependent on the fishing industry are being fairly treated through the EU fisheries policy with particular reference to conservation measures which appear to have the least impact on major fishing fleets that have caused serious depletion of the fish stocks; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3888/08]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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I assume that the Deputy is referring to the EU's Common Fisheries Policy. It is not clear from the Deputy's question whether he has specific conservation measures in mind that he believes are impacting unfairly on families of those working in the industry.

In general terms, it is clear that many of the fish stocks of importance to Irish fishermen in Irish and other European waters are already seriously depleted or are seriously at risk of it. In order to address that problem, with the objective of trying to ensure the viability of the fishing industry going forward, a range of conservation and recovery measures are already in place or are being introduced, both at national and EU level. These include for example:

technical measures such as specifications for net and mesh sizes for different fisheries;· specifications for minimum landing sizes aimed at protecting juvenile fish;

area and temporal closures to protect spawning, and to promote stock recovery;

the establishment of Total Allowable Catches (TACs) on an annual basis to provide inter alia that fishing pressure on stocks is kept to a sustainable level; and

reduction of the size of the European fishing fleet as a whole in the interest of sustainability of fish stocks and a more viable industry for the remainder.

As well as our responsibility to conserve and protect our oceans and seas for their own intrinsic value, a key theme underpinning all of these conservation measures, and one which informs national policy here in Ireland also, is the economic, social and cultural impact of the fishing industry on the small coastal communities who depend on it. If strong measures are not taken to conserve fish stocks now, it is clear that there will be no fishing industry in the future and that prospect is indeed a bleak one for both those particular communities and the community as a whole. I will continue to work closely with our fishing industry to deliver strong and effective conservation measures that ensure a sustainable and profitable fishing industry and protects, going forward, the livelihoods of coastal communities dependent on fishing.