Tom Fleming (Kerry South, Independent)
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Question 730: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the action he and his EU ministerial colleagues have taken to address the practice of discarding fish at sea; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41422/11]

Tom Fleming (Kerry South, Independent)
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Question 731: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the implications of the EU fishing quota deal for 2012 recently negotiated between EU Fisheries Ministers, the European Commission and the Commissioner for EU fisheries, Maria Damanaki, will have in relation to the practice of discarding fish at sea; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41423/11]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 730 and 731 together.

I am very concerned about the unacceptable practice of discarding fish at sea and I am fully committed to working both nationally and internationally to bring about an end to this practice.

Commissioner Damanaki has placed discarding of fish high on her agenda for the Common Fisheries Policy reform and I am committed to giving Ireland's support to assisting the Commissioner in identifying and implementing the appropriate measures to effectively address discards. At home I have taken a number of opportunities to discuss this complex subject with the Irish fishing industry.

Through the EU North Western Waters RAC, the Irish Fishing Industry proposed the introduction of additional measures to reduce discards through a more selective gear type in the mixed whitefish fisheries in the Celtic Sea. The intention of this initiative is to apply additional selectivity measures contributing to the reduction of discards of cod, haddock and whiting, as of 2012. I am please to state that at the December EU Fisheries Council, the EU Commission and Council agreed to adopt these proposed measures.

Discarding has been receiving huge exposure across various international media, setting a negative picture of the global fishing industry. Decisive action is required in the short term, however, the problem is complex with many and at times disconnected factors impacting on it. This level of complexity requires an approach, which recognises the multi-faceted issues, the different dynamics of individual fisheries and areas and delivers real policies and change on a number of fronts.

Any resolution will require the buy in of our fishers and a significant behavioural shift will be required from them to successfully eliminate discards. Without this change in operational patterns there will be a real danger that whatever new legislation is introduced it will only succeed in pushing discarding further "underground" and this would worsen the current data situation and not deal with the problem.

Discards was a high priority in Ireland's formal submission on the CFP Review forwarded in 2010, which argued for a fishery specific approach involving remedial actions to reduce or eliminate discards involving changes to fishing gear and fishing practices. It focused on the development of a strong industry, science, gear technology partnership to best equip our fleets for their specific needs. It also promoted the development of a Code of Practice to incentivise best practice.

My preference is for a clear policy to eliminate discards, backed up by unambiguous and appropriate technical measures and supports which can demonstrably achieve the stated policy goal. To my mind, there has been little elaboration on the suite of measures and supports that will be necessary. This is undermining the discussion to date.

One of the possible measures being looked at is the concept of catch quota management which involves landing all catches of targeted stocks and recording the landings against quota. There are pilot schemes up and running in some Member States and I await the outcome of those, though it is already clear to me that any move in this direction would have to be over a reasonable timeframe, provide some adjustment in quota to take account of the increased landings and be on a voluntary basis in the first instance. This approach is technical and requires a significant capital investment in equipment and human resources which will have to be facilitated by financial support from the EU if it is to become a reality.