Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Question 374: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the current EU fish quotas across all categories that Ireland currently enjoys; if he is seeking to increase these quotas; the progress made on this issue to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39616/11]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The levels of Total Allowable Catch (TAC) and ultimately the quotas for Ireland in 2012 will be determined at the December Council of Fisheries Ministers being held on December 15th and 16th in Brussels.

A summary of the main 2011 quotas for Irish fishermen are detailed in the table below.

The European Commission proposals for 2012 are based on formal advice received from ICES (the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas), and also on the views of the STECF (the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries), which gives the Commission its views on the economic and social impacts of the scientific advice. The advice shows that many stocks where Ireland has a quota are not in a healthy biological state and therefore are in need of urgent remedial action. The Commission has proposed cuts of 15% and 25% in many stocks that they deem to be in data poor situations. At the October Fisheries Council in Luxembourg, the Council considered TAC and quota proposals for the Baltic Sea. In that context, and in response to concerns that I and other colleagues expressed about the overall policy being pursued, Commissioner Damanaki gave a commitment to rethink her previously stated policy of applying automatic reductions of 15 or 25% to a swathe of stocks in the absence of full scientific advice. The Commission now appears receptive to looking at the scientific advice on a case by case basis, which is what I have been advocating. She did, however, state that she intends to implement, as a matter of principle, a level of cut to all stocks without full scientific advice, regardless of the indications of available data and advice.

I have consistently stated that wherever the scientific advice indicates a need for a cut in TAC levels I will accept this measure. The Sustainability Impact Assessment on TACs and quotas for 2012, which I presented to the Dail on 23rd November, agrees with the need to cut the quotas for some of the stocks in 2012, though the level of these cuts is queried in some cases, while in others there is clear scientific data to suggest that a cut is unwarranted. In other cases, the available evidence is that an increase in the TAC can be justified.

There is a high cost from a social and economic perspective when quota cuts are proposed and we have to be satisfied that in every case these cuts are justifiable. Fishing ports and whole communities all around our coast are dependent on fisheries for their very survival.

We need to use all sources of verifiable science when determining our decisions on fishing levels and try to strike the right balance to ensure the health of the fishing resource and the wider ecosystem with the economic and social realities of our network of rural coastal communities. I will be making every effort to ensure, at the Fisheries Council this week, we deliver on these objectives.

Summary of main Irish quotas and total TAC for 2011