Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will detail the various schemes including hardship funds and their eligibility criteria for the decommissioning of fishing vessels as permitted by the relevant authority here; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55401/12]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the funding available for decommissioning fishing vessels here; the eligibility criteria for the decommissioning of a fishing vessel (details supplied) in County Wicklow which has been deemed unfit to fish; if he will clarify the suitability of the vessel to avail of relevant funding in relation to its decommissioning; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55402/12]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will investigate the concerns of a person (details supplied) in relation to a fishing vessel; if he appreciates the difficulties facing the person; if he will meet with the person to discuss their concerns; if he will clarify the way this person's concerns may be brought to a final resolution; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55403/12]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 405, 406 and 407 together.

This matter centres on a vessel bought in Europe which turned out to be unstable and was unfit to go to sea. The owner of the vessel has consistently said that the paperwork supplied and the expert employed to survey the vessel at the time of purchase indicated that there was no problem with the stability of the vessel. I understand that vessel in question failed a stability test by the Marine Survey Office (MSO) of the Department of Transport in 2009.

The failures in the stability of the fishing vessel were determined after its purchase by the new Irish owner. The reality that these failures were not detected at the time of purchase by the new owner is a private matter between the owners and the sellers of the vessel and the relevant experts involved in surveying and certifying the vessel, none of which are employed by the State or were acting on behalf of the State. The State does not have responsibility for the failures in this private business transaction, no matter how unfortunate the case may be. I am sympathetic to the very unfortunate situation that the owner finds himself in but it is not due to any failure on the part of the State and there are no remedies open to me to address the situation in which the vessel owner finds himself.

My Department has no function in this safety matter, other than that the Sea Fishing Boat Licensing Authority must ensure that a vessel has a Fishing Vessel Safety Certificate prior to licensing. The Authority is not empowered to vary or indeed waive the legal safety requirements set down by the Maritime Safety Directorate of the Department of Transport.

To resolve the stability problems of his vessel, I understand that the owner lengthened his vessel by 6 metres. As the vessel was larger, the owner requires additional capacity to licence the vessel. Capacity is a privately owned tradeable asset and my Department has no direct role in that private market. In February 2011, in order to licence the vessel without purchasing the additional capacity required, the owner made an application for ‘safety tonnage’ to the Registrar General of Fishing Boats. I understand that the Registrar is awaiting certification of the modifications to the vessel from the Marine Survey Office before a decision is made in relation to the safety tonnage application.

The owner previously made a request to my Department to be granted a scallop authorisation and effort allocation in order to allow the owner to participate in the scallop fisheries. Under the national policy for the fishing fleet, vessels permitted to participate in the scallop fishery are ring fenced within the fleet and only vessels with the necessary scallop entitlement in their sea fishing boat licence are permitted to participate in that fishery. The vessel in question is registered in the Beamer segment of the Irish Fishing Fleet and does not have the necessary track record to be licensed in the scallop sub-segments of the fleet. The owner’s proposal would require that the vessel would be licensed in the Polyvalent (scallop sub segment) or Specific (scallop sub segment) segments. There is no scope in the national policy to transfer from the Beamer segment to the Polyvalent or Specific segments, other than by providing 100% capacity from those segments with the required scallop track record. This capacity is a privately owned tradeable asset on the open market and must be provided at a ratio of 1:1 as part of the licensing process.

Fleet policy, including policy on segmentation of the fleet, is set by me under section 3(2) of the Fisheries (Amendment) Act 2003, as amended by section 99 of the Sea Fisheries Maritime Jurisdiction Act 2006. I am precluded by that Act from exercising any power or control in relation to any particular case or group of cases with which the Licensing Authority is or may be concerned. It is not an option, therefore, for me to amend national policy on segmentation of the fleet for the purpose of assisting the owner in moving to another segment of the fleet, no matter how sympathetic I may be to his situation. The same situation applies in relation to requests from the owner to move to the Refrigerated Sea Water Segment Pelagic segment of the fleet.

More recently, the owner of the vessel has expressed a desire to decommission his vessel. Decommissioning of fishing vessels is governed by Council Regulation (EC) No 1198/2006 (EFF Regulation) and Commission Regulation (EC) No 498/2007 which provides for rules implementing schemes co-funded by the European Fisheries Fund. Article 23 of the EFF Regulation provides for the European Fisheries Fund to contribute to financing of the permanent cessation of fishing activities of fishing vessels, provided that such cessation forms part of a Fishing Effort Adjustment Plan prepared by the Member State and approved by the Commission as part of the Member State’s Operational Programme.

There is at present no decommissioning scheme in operation. The last decommissioning scheme for vessels was undertaken in 2008 and implemented the fleet restructuring objectives set out in the National Strategic Plan for the Fisheries Sector 2007-2013, prepared in accordance with Article 15 of the EFF Regulation and which was submitted to and adopted by the Commission.

The 2008 Decommissioning Scheme required that a vessel be registered/licensed, comply with all relevant legislation, be capable of putting to sea at the time of application and have carried out fishing activity for at least 75 days at sea in both of two periods of 12 months preceding 31 December 2007, or have carried out a fishing activity for at least 150 days at sea in the 12 month period preceding 31 December 2007. The Scheme sought to remove active fishing vessels and their fishing capacity from the fleet register to reduce fishing effort in certain whitefish fisheries and thereby improve the viability of the fisheries for other active vessels. I understand that the vessel in question has not been licensed since 30 September 2009 and is therefore not an active vessel. Should a new decommissioning scheme be introduced at a future date with similar eligibility requirements, the vessel would not qualify under its present circumstances.

A new decommissioning scheme for any category of vessels or more generally could only be considered where a strong case has been made by the fishing industry representative bodies and that case was considered valid and the most appropriate use of scarce funds available for the development of the seafood sector, including the limited co-funding available from the European Fisheries Fund. It is likely that a revised Fishing Effort Adjustment Plan would be required and this would need to be approved by the European Commission. I have no plans at this time to introduce such a scheme which would in any event have to target a category or categories of vessels based on a range of broad and transparent criteria.