Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
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To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the progress that has been made with the Spanish Government in relation to the obtaining of real time information from Spanish boats catching fish in Irish waters; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43933/12]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Council Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009 establishes a Community control system for ensuring compliance with the rules of the Common Fisheries Policy, known as the Control Regulation. The European Commission adopted the implementing rules for Control Regulation in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 404/2011. These regulations set out the detailed requirements and obligations for the operation of an EU Electronic Logbooks (ERS) system and the procedures to be adhered to in the event that the system is not fully functioning.

The introduction of ERS allows the Irish Fisheries Control Authority near real time access to the fishing logbook information of EU and Third Country fishing vessels operating in the Irish Exclusive Fisheries Zone. This data is made available by the Flag Member State on request when the fishing vessel is fishing in Irish waters or is provided on landing into an Irish port.

With the advent of ERS the Sea Fisheries Protection Authorities (SFPA) have been working with the Control Authorities of the Member States whose vessels operate in Irish Waters to provide that the relevant ERS data is made available through the European Commission Data Exchange Highway (DEH). The DEH is the channel through which Member States exchange ERS data and Ireland has been connected to the DEH since 2011. This process involves a significant amount of testing between all the relevant parties to ensure the logbook data exchange can take place and it is only when the testing is completed satisfactorily that data is allowed to be exchanged in the “Live” environment. At present Ireland is conducting testing with the Spanish Authorities on the exchange of ERS data through the DEH and significant progress has been made to date.

In the meantime, there remain obligations on all Member States, including Spain, to provide Ireland with ERS logbook data by alternate means. Following several bilateral meetings the Irish and Spanish Authorities have put a system in place that allows for the exchange of logbook data between both parties to ensure that the logbook data required under the EU Regulation is available in near real time. This alternative system involves the direct exchange of logbook data between the Irish and Spanish Fisheries Monitoring Centres rather than using the DEH. In effect this means that the fishing logbook information of all Spanish fishing vessels operating in the Irish EEZ or landing into Irish Ports is available to the Irish Authorities electronically on request in near real time. While this alternative system is of practical use, Ireland continues to work closely with the authorities of Spain to ensure the full system is in place as early as possible.