Martin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein)
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413. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will provide an update on the process to compensate losses to fishermen for undersized lobsters under 127 centimetres, as was promised for 2015 to 2017. [20394/15]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I presume the Deputy is referring to the transitional financial assistance currently being provided to fishermen since the introduction of a maximum landing size of 127 mm for lobsters on 1 January 2015. The Lobster (Conservation of Stocks) Regulations 2014 (S.I. 591 of 2014), which I signed into law in December 2014, concluded the roll-out of changes to lobster conservation measures which I had announced in May 2014. The regulations replace and revoke previous regulations with the objective of supporting the reproductive potential of the stock. In that regard, I am conscious of my responsibilities under the Common Fisheries Policy to strive for sustainable inshore fisheries in the long term.

The measures which now apply to the lobster fishery include:

- Continued legal protection in the aforementioned regulations for lobsters v-notched under an incentivised National Lobster V-Notching Programme which provides financial support for fishermen engaged in conservation practice of v-notching live lobsters and returning them to sea to contribute to the reproductive capacity of the stock;

- The introduction of a new maximum landing size for lobster of 127mm, which took effect from 1 January 2015 through the aforementioned regulations;

- An increase in grant aid to fishermen for the voluntary v-notching of lobsters from the existing rate of 55% to a new maximum of 75% of the market price;

- Transitional arrangements that provide fishermen with grant aid of up to 75% of the market price for v-notching oversize lobsters and returning them alive to sea during the first two years of the maximum landing size measure;

- EU regulations prohibiting the landing of lobsters of less than 87 mm in carapace length.

The new maximum landing size measure is expected to be less economically penalising than other possible alternative measures and particularly when provided with financial support under the v-notching programme during the transitional arrangements. National figures from 2014 following the introduction of the new funding rate record an increase of 19,000 lobsters presented for v-notching, bringing the total to over twice the number conserved in 2013, and more than €230,000 was provided to fishermen in financial support for this worthwhile conservation practice. The scheme is operated by an Bord Iascaigh Mhara. Future funding for the lobster conservation programme is being examined in the context of the forthcoming Seafood Development operational programme.