John O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Fianna Fail)
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Question 207: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if his attention has been drawn to the unbalanced mackerel quota provided to the refrigerated seawater fleet over the polyvalent fleet; if his further attention has been drawn to the geographical implications for this unbalanced quota; in view of the increased mackerel quota, if the ratio could be renegotiated to be more balanced towards the polyvalent fleet; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3103/11]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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The internal sharing arrangements between different parts of the fleet is the subject of dissatisfaction and disagreement within the Irish industry with each group of vessels seeking increased its share. However, it is important to understand that any increase to one part of the fleet must involve a reduction to another part of the fleet.

Prior to the year 2000, polyvalent (multi-purpose) vessels caught only small quantities of mackerel. The mackerel fishery was prosecuted by Refrigerated Sea Water (RSW) vessels in the pelagic segment of the fishing fleet which were subject to vessel catch limits since the mid 1980's. There are 23 vessels in this segment of the fleet and they are large purpose built vessels for the pelagic fisheries (mainly mackerel, herring and horse mackerel). At this time the typical total national catch of polyvalent vessels was of the order of 1,000-1,200 tonnes and a 1,500 tonne allocation was set aside for them out of the total national quota which ranged from a high of 99,000 tonnes (in 1994) down to a low of 52,000 tonnes between 1985 and 2000.

This situation changed materially from 2000 onwards as a number of polyvalent tank boats were introduced into the fleet. These vessels had much higher catching and storage capacity and the national polyvalent catch trebled to over 3,500 tonnes in the year 2000. Following extensive consultation and discussion with the various industry players throughout 2001, revised arrangements were eventually put in place in October of that year. In summary, that capped the total mackerel catch of polyvalent vessels at 7,000 tonnes, of which 1,500 tonnes was set aside to cover catches by vessels less than 65 feet in length. The balance of the available mackerel quota was divided between the 23 RSW vessels of the pelagic sector according to set formulae.

In 2001, when the allocation of 7,000 tonnes for the polyvalent fleet was agreed, the Irish mackerel quota was 72,000 tonnes. Since then, it has decreased and fluctuated at a lower level. In 2008 the total quota was only 49,643 tonnes. However, despite these quota reductions, the 7,000 tonnes reserved for the polyvalent sector remained unchanged until 2009 when an Irish quota of 66,070 tonnes was agreed and requests for a higher share of that quota was received from the polyvalent vessel owners.

Following a review, new arrangements were introduced in 2009 for the sharing of the national quota between the polyvalent and pelagic segments of the fleet. These involve an allocation of 87% for the RSW Pelagic segment and 13% for the polyvalent segment. As the quota for mackerel in 2011 will involve an increase over the 2010 quota, the polyvalent segment will receive a pro-rata increase in its allocation.

Any change in the current arrangements would be justified only if circumstances have changed since the 2009 review. At that time, Minister Killeen fully consulted with industry representatives and interested parties on the issue and as a result was fully aware of the divergent views that prevailed within the industry at that time in relation to the management of this fishery. The specific management arrangements for the allocation of the mackerel quota introduced in 2009 were developed by the Minister for the proper and effective management of the mackerel fishing opportunities while at the same time fully cognisant of the divergent views that existed on the issue within various segments of the fishing industry. At this time, I do not consider that there are substantially changed circumstances which would warrant a review of the existing arrangements.

I would like to comment at this point about the level of landings into Ireland. Of course, under the EU open market policy there can be no question of requiring or pressuring vessels to land into Ireland. The situation for 2009 was that almost all of the polyvalent vessels landed into Ireland while 60% of the landings by the RSW Pelagic segment vessels were into Ireland. The situation for 2010 has seen some change with 75% of the polyvalent landings and 64% of the RSW pelagic segment landings being into Ireland. It is clear that both polyvalent and RSW pelagic Segment vessels are capable of and do land a proportion of their quota abroad. From an employment and economic activity perspective I would like to see the vast majority of all landings into Ireland and I would encourage the vessel owners and the processors to work together to maximise landings into Irish factories.En