Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
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220. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will redistribute any leftover tonnage for smaller boats under 17 m from this years herring quota among the same sized boats next year instead of giving some of this to larger boats; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40287/13]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The position in relation to the management of all fisheries, both pelagic and whitefish, is that the quota is managed on a single year basis and under fishing by any group is not carried forward to the following year for that group. For all stocks, any carry over from 2013, which can be up to 10 % in the case of Celtic Sea Herring, will be added to the national adjusted quota for 2014. Under current policy the Celtic Sea Herring sentinel fishery will receive up to 11% of the adjusted quota, each year.

Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
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221. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will allow some of the 2014 herring quota for boats under 17 m to be landed in January as well as November and December; if the November opening would begin in 1 November; if he will allow flexibility for small boats to help them cope with the possibility of bad weather; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40288/13]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Management arrangements for the 2014 Celtic Sea Herring fishery have not yet been considered. I will decide on the arrangements for the fishery following consultation with the Celtic Sea Herring Management Advisory Committee (CSHMAC). The CSHMAC have not yet made any proposals for the 2014 fishery and I will consider any proposals received from the committee including a request for a spring fishery.

Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
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222. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will allow weekly herring quotas for boats under 17m to be landed the following week if they cannot be landed on time for small boats to cope with the possibility of bad weather; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40289/13]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The current management arrangements in place for this fishery, which were recommended by the Celtic Sea Herring Management Advisory Committee (CSHMAC) do not allow for the carry over of individual vessel allocations from one week to the next. Quota allocations with weekly catch limits will be set following consultation with the CSHMAC for each management period, taking consideration of numbers and size of vessels booked-in. In addition a vessel may choose not to fish in a particular week and this will have no impact on their participation record.

The fishery is divided into two management periods and any unused quota from the first management period will be redistributed in the second management period. Vessels will only have to fish one week of the first management period to qualify for the redistribution in the second period provided they land 50% of their allocation in that week. These arrangements were put in place having regard to the size of the vessels involved in the fishery and the time of year in which the fishing takes place.