John Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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140. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will ensure that Ireland's fishermen will not lose out to Iceland and the Faroes in terms of the proposed increase in mackerel stocks from 2014; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48437/13]

Martin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein)
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155. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if the proposed increase in mackerel quota of 300,000 tonnes will be allocated to EU countries or countries outside of the EU. [48564/13]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 140 and 155 together.

The overall Total Allowable Catch (TAC) advice from ICES (International Council for the Exploration of the Sea) for North East Atlantic mackerel 2013 was 542,000 tonnes. The advice for 2014 is that landings should be no more than 889,886 tonnes.

As the Deputies will be aware, mackerel is Ireland’s most important fishery, and the long running situation whereby both Iceland and the Faeroes have been engaged in unacceptable and irresponsible fishing of this stock has been, and is, a matter of deep concern to me. My approach as Minister has always been to engage in the negotiations between the EU and the other Coastal States (Iceland, Faeroes & Norway) with a view to protecting Ireland’s interests while at the same time being prepared to go some way towards meeting the expectations of Iceland and the Faeroes.

In this regard, I have placed this issue on the agenda of the Council of Fisheries Ministers on numerous occasions, most recently at the meeting held on the 17th of October. In advance of that meeting, I also held bilateral meetings with Commissioner Damanaki, Spanish Fisheries Minister Canete, UK Minister Eustice and Scottish Minister Lochead to press Ireland’s case. At the Council meeting, I sought information from the Commission (who negotiate on behalf of the EU at the Coastal States meetings) on the current state of play in the negotiations and, in particular, details on the Commissions’ discussion with Norway, a key partner for the EU on this issue.

I have consistently argued that any new offer to Iceland must be jointly agreed with Norway on the basis of equal burden sharing, that Iceland should not be granted access to EU waters as a part of any deal and that any deal must also protect the interests of EU Member States like Ireland who have relied on this fishery for over 40 years. I have always made it clear, however, that I was not opposed to a deal and recognized that Iceland (and Faeroes) should be provided with fair and justifiable quota shares.

In this regard, I asked that the Commissioner and my fellow Ministers give serious consideration to a proposal developed by the European Pelagic Industry that would involve a tiered approach with different percentage shares for each of the Coastal States depending upon the level of the Total Allowable Catch advice from year to year. The core concept behind this proposal is to protect those fleets that have developed and now depend upon the mackerel fishery over a long number of years.

I was pleased that the Commissioner and many of the Member States took away this concept for more detailed examination in advance of the Coastal State negotiations in London on the 22nd of October, and with the positive consideration of all of the points raised by me.

At the negotiations in London on 23/24 October, in addition to my officials, Ireland was also represented at industry level. Unfortunately however, there was little by way of concrete progress. In large part this was due to the fact that a new Norwegian Fisheries Minister had only been appointed the previous week. One positive aspect was that, again at Ireland’s instigation, there was a detailed presentation to, and exchange of views with Member States, from the European Pelagic industry on their proposal.

Another round of Coastal State negotiations is now due to take place in Clonakilty from 18-22 November. Ireland will play a constructive role at those negotiations and will leave no stone unturned in an effort to reach a solution that is balanced and fair to all of the parties.