Tom Fleming (Kerry South, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 163: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if the coastal management plan for Castlemaine Harbour, County Kerry has been finalised; if he will now open the harbour to the sourcing of mussel seed, before the seed is destroyed by predators; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20196/11]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The public consultation on the Fisheries Natura Plan and Appropriate Assessment of mussel seed fishing within Castlemaine Harbour was completed on 6 June 2011. Under the European Communities (Habitats and Birds) (Sea-fisheries) Regulations 2009 (S.I. 346 of 2009), the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht is a statutory consultee, stemming from his remit as competent authority for the EU Habitats and Birds Directives in Ireland. The National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) of the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht submitted considerable comments on the Appropriate Assessment report. This was not unexpected, as this was the first full appropriate assessment of a marine Natura 2000 site in Ireland. Over the course of June 2011, my Department and the Marine Institute liaised with the NPWS for the purpose of clarifying the position on the issues raised.

On 4 July 2011, an ad-hoc technical advisory committee met to discuss the Castlemaine Harbour appropriate assessment and Fisheries Natura Plan, together with all submissions received. This advisory committee has previously been convened to consider previous interim appropriate assessments for Castlemaine Harbour and Dundalk Bay. The Committee was chaired by my Department and comprised of experts from the Marine Institute, BIM and the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority and also included representatives of the Environmental Pillar and mussel seed fishing interests in Castlemaine Harbour. The Committee was tasked with considering the aforementioned documentation and providing a consensus recommendation to me on opening of the mussel seed fishery and any conditions that should apply. However, the Committee was unable to make a consensus recommendation to me as the Environmental Pillar representatives disagreed with the conclusions of the Appropriate Assessment, while other members of the Committee supported those conclusions.

In accordance with the 2009 Regulations, I will now consider all the documentation in the case, together with the divergent views expressed through the Advisory Committee, and make my statutory decision on the fishery.