Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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67. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his plans to provide additional supports for the fishing industry, following the reductions in the haddock quota by 12% and the cod quota by 13%, despite evidence that fish stocks are showing signs of growth; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13440/15]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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During last December’s Fisheries Council I worked closely with the fishing industry and other stakeholders to deliver quotas for Ireland that involve reductions only where justified and ensured that a rational and prudent account is taken of the available scientific information to inform the Council’s decisions.

After intensive negotiations, we successfully managed to turn an extremely worrying proposal from the European Commission into a much improved outcome for the Irish whitefish industry.

The most difficult area coming into those negotiations was the Commission proposals for cod and haddock in the Celtic Sea.  I successfully resisted very substantial cuts in cod and haddock quotas following extremely difficult negotiations.  I was able to bring to the table an Irish industry initiative to introduce new fishing gear in 2015 that will allow more young fish to escape and this assisted me greatly in getting the proposed severe cuts (-64% Cod and -41% Haddock) brought down to more manageable levels of 12% and 13% respectively.  This important initiative, it is estimated, will reduce discards of haddock and whiting in the Celtic Sea by some 4,000 tonnes each year - a 30% reduction in total discards of these stocks.  It will assist greatly in providing a solid basis for the growth of these fish stocks in the Celtic Sea and should support quota increases in the coming years and the fishing industry should be commended for their initiative.

The overall package agreed for whitefish quotas for Irish fishermen in 2015 represents a successful outcome considering the depth of cuts proposed by the Commission at the start of these Council negotiations and this fact has been acknowledged by the industry. We secured an increase for our vitally important prawn fishery and stability for many of our valuable stocks around our coast.  This is a good outcome for the fishing industry and it also supports a sustainable approach to protecting our fish stocks.

In terms of additional supports for the fishing industry, I launched for public consultation a €241 millioninvestment programme for the seafood sector. This investment will assist seafood enterprises to sustainably grow their production, add value to our seafood exports and create much needed employment in our coastal communities.

Over the last two years I was successful in negotiating a doubling for the period to 2020 of the EU seafood development funds available to Ireland. Under this Programme, €147m will be provided to Ireland under the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund. Government is providing an additional €94 million in co-funding, demonstrating our commitment to growing and developing the sector. The details of exactly how this package will be distributed are contained in a proposal that is currently undergoing a public consultation process at which point I will be considering all views and discussing them with stakeholders.