Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

300. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the position regarding overfishing (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40336/14]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Ireland is committed to having Total Allowable Catches set at levels that achieve Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) by 2015, where possible and by 2020 at the latest. This is consistent with the newly reformed Common Fisheries Policy. A core objective of the Common Fisheries Policy is to "ensure exploitation of living aquatic resources that provides sustainable economic, environmental and social conditions". Overfishing is, of course, not sustainable While achieving this objective through the regulation of catches (TACs) may be relatively straight-forward in the context of a single species fishery, in multi-gear, multi-species and multi-fleet fisheries, delivering on this objective is complex and challenging. Specifically with regard to the stocks identified by the Deputy the position is as follows:

Seabass: The scientific advice is that an urgent reduction in fishing mortality is required for the stocks of seabass in the Celtic Sea, Irish Sea, Channel and North Sea. The specific mechanism to achieve this has been under discussion but no proposal has been brought forward by the EU Commission. Ireland has a negligible impact on seabass mortality as, nationally,we operate a complete ban on commercial landings of sea bass and a daily bag limit for anglers of only 2 fish.

Mackerel: following lengthy negotiations a tripartite agreement between the EU, Norway and the Faroe Islands set a TAC of 1.24m tonnes for 2014, which was in excess of the scientific advice. However, under this Agreement, a proportion amounting to 15.6% was reserved to cover catches by Iceland and Russia, in particular. The tripartite agreement provided that the TAC for 2015 to 2018 will be based on ICES advice. However, concern remains that Iceland is operating outside the Coastal States Tripartite Agreement and is likely to continue its unacceptable unilateral fishing of the mackerel stock. There is also concern about the fishing levels of both Russia and Greenland. Coastal State negotiations on the mackerel fishery and on setting a mackerel TAC for 2015 are ongoing in London this week.

Cod:Cod stocks are separately managed in the Celtic Sea, the Irish Sea and off the north west coast. ICES advice on each of these stocks for 2015 has been made available. ICES advises that for the cod stock in the north west, on the basis of the MSY approach, that there should be no directed fisheries and that bycatch and discards should be minimized in 2014. In relation to the Irish Sea stock, ICES advises, on the basis of the MSY and precautionary approaches, that there should be no directed fisheries, and bycatch and discards should be minimized in 2015 and 2016. Recruitment in the cod stock in the Celtic Sea has been highly variable over time with occasional very high recruitment. The most recent scientific advice indicates that there is significant recruitment of cod in the Celtic Sea, which is good news, and I will be doing my utmost to ensure that this is reflected in the TAC set for 2015 in order to avoid discarding of fish.

The EU Commission’s proposals for TACs for 2015 are expected to be available in the next fortnight. As soon as they are available, I will have a full sustainability impact assessment undertaken, including a public consultation and will bring it before the Oireachtas for views to inform negotiations at the December EU Fisheries Council.