Written answers

Thursday, 10 May 2012

Department of Agriculture, Marine and Food

Fisheries Protection

4:00 pm

Photo of Bernard DurkanBernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 160: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he is satisfied that each EU member state is sufficiently committed to the conservation of fish stocks; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23571/12]

Photo of Simon CoveneySimon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The sustainable exploitation of any renewable natural resource means that the resource can be used indefinitely. Fisheries can be defined as sustainable when they are conducted over the long term at an acceptable level of biological and economic productivity without leading to ecological changes that exclude options for future generations.

The European fishing fleet depends totally on having healthy and long term sustainable stocks to remain viable and productive. In order to balance the social, economic and environmental pillars it is necessary to take hard decisions on some stocks that will result in reduced fishing opportunities.

For all Member States it should be an economic imperative for the wider seafood community that stocks are managed in such a manner that allows for the long term exploitation, while at the same time leaves a proportion of fish in the sea that is the right size to let fish grow and reproduce at their most productive level.

Under the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy, the European Commission have proposed a fisheries management regime in the context of Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY). Ireland is committed to having Total Allowable Catches set at levels that can produce Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) by 2015, where possible. The philosophy behind this approach is to obtain the maximum long-term catch while simultaneously ensuring the stock size is kept large enough to maintain productivity. This will ultimately be set down in the CFP and will be a requirement of every Member State to comply.

Under the umbrella of the CFP framework there are a number of technical, conservation and control regulations which determine how, when and where European fishermen can fish, and these apply to all Member States. I strongly believe that control is an essential element of the CFP and control must be consistently implemented across Member States. The effective implementation of the new EU Control regime will be critical to the future sustainability of fish stocks. This regime includes important new features including the electronic recording and reporting of fish catches and offers the Coastal State significantly stronger tools to control the activity of all fishing vessels in its waters.

The levels of Total Allowable Catch (TAC) and quotas for each fish stock each year are determined at the December Council of Fisheries Ministers. The Council makes decisions based on scientific advice 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 decisions made last December in respect of TACs and quotas for 2012 were supported by the Fisheries Council and took account of the available scientific advice. The positions taken by Member States, both in the context of current arrangements and in the negotiations on the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy, currently underway, indicate a strong commitment from Member States, in general, to the conservation of fish stocks and sustainable fisheries.

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