Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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274. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the position regarding a licence held by a person (details supplied); the reason this licence was historically issued for in each year from 2004 to 2014, inclusive; the entitlements this licence allowed the owner to fish for in each of these years; if entitlements have been lost in these years; if the licence confines the owner to a certain method of fishing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3833/15]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Fisheries (Amendment) Act 2003 transferred the function of sea-fishing boat licensing from the Minister to the Licensing Authority for Sea-Fishing Boats which operates on an independent basis subject to criteria set out in section 3 of the Act and Ministerial Policy Directives. The Licensing Authority is the Registrar General of Fishing Boats, an official of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine or, under the superintendence of the Registrar General, the Deputy Registrar General of Fishing Boats.

The Act prohibits me as Minister 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”.

I have made enquiries of the Registrar General who informs me that the vessel in question was registered and licensed in the Polyvalent Segment [≥18metres length overall] Sub-segment to the named individual for the period from 17 November 2004 to 7 September 2006.

The Polyvalent Segment [≥18metres length overall] Sub-segment is a multipurpose Sub-segment and vessels registered and licensed therein can fish for multi-species. However the vessel in question was precluded from fishing for herring and mackerel as it does not have the required track record in these fisheries.

The sea-fishing boat licences issued to the named individual did not carry a restriction on fishing methods.

The named individual transferred ownership of the vessel, inclusive of its fishing capacity in 2006, and the vessel was registered and licensed to its new and current owner on 3 October 2006.

In relation to fishing effort restrictions in certain areas, EU Regulation 1342/2008 introduced a management system for fishing effort to rebuild over exploited cod stocks. The Minister established a Steering Group in February 2009 consisting of representatives of the Irish Fishing Industry, the Marine Institute, the Sea Fishing Protection Authority, Bord Iascaigh Mhara and the Department to advise on the management arrangements for both the Irish Sea and the North West of Donegal. The full details of the scheme introduced to meet the requirements of the EU Regulation are set out in the Information note on the Department’s website. In order to qualify for an effort allocation, all vessels registered and licensed must have a track record in a gear type and will receive fishing effort for that gear type. The qualification threshold in Area VIIa is one or more days in area VIIa in the period 2005 – 2008 using a regulated gear in Annex 1 to Council Regulation 1342/2008. The qualification threshold in Area VIa is one or more days in area VIa in the period 2006 or 2007 using a regulated gear in Annex 1 to Council Regulation 1342/2008.

In implementing the track record requirement, the Department is advised by the SFPA of the vessels which met the criteria for an allocation of effort. This is based on an analysis of logbook records during the relevant years. In order to qualify for an allocation of fishing effort for a particular gear type, vessels must have a record of fishing with that gear type in the area. As recommended by the Steering Group, the Minister has introduced restricted entry for certain gear types and details are available on the Department’s website.

If a vessel owner considers that its vessel qualifies as having used a regulated gear in the relevant year(s), but has not been granted effort, the owner should contact the SFPA to have its logbook records reviewed for the period to see if activity with the specific gear type was missed. If this turns out to be the case the SFPA will notify the Department and the vessel will be considered as having the necessary track record for that gear type.