Brendan Ryan (Dublin North, Labour)
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Question 203: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the efforts he is making to ensure that the small inshore fishing fleet in this country is recognised as a separate sector within the overall Common Fisheries Policy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36400/11]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Common Fisheries Policy covers all fisheries and fish stocks and there would not be a basis for excluding inshore fisheries from the Policy. The CFP sets down the rules and regulations for the management and conservation of all fish stocks both those subject to quota restrictions covering both inshore and off shore fishing grounds and inshore stocks, many of which are not subject to quota.

The EU Commission's proposal for a reformed CFP extends, to 2022, the right for Member States to restrict access in a zone within 12 nautical miles of the coastline as is currently in place. These restrictions have reduced fishing pressure in the 6 and 12 miles zones and have provided a level of protection against increased fishing effort from other Member States within the zone.

I am not in favour of differentiating between our inshore fleet and the rest of the fishing fleet for quota management purposes. I do not support the Commission's proposal to establish a mandatory Transferable Fishing Concessions (quotas) for vessels above 12 metres in length and as such I do not accept its approach to a differentiation of the small inshore fleet, in this regard. I will be seeking additional support for the inshore sector in the context of the reformed Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) is an appropriate funding provision to support the inshore fleet in particular in the effective management and conservation of inshore stocks in areas such as technical measures such as v notching lobster, environmental management, support and certification and safety.