John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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108. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will amend his Department's policies and correct the anomalies therein relating to the fishing rights and licensing authority which has adversely affected individual cases, such as that of a person (details supplied) in County Donegal; his views on the legislation and regulations relating to this matter; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35272/15]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The person referred to in the question has commenced legal proceedings against the State in relation to this matter. It would be inappropriate for me to deal with the detail of the case other than through the appropriate legal channels at this point.

The general position in relation to mackerel management policy is as follows. After extensive and lengthy consultations in 2009 and 2010, the then Minister introduced new management arrangements for polyvalent mackerel in November 2010. Mackerel allocations were made available to vessel owners based on track record from the two best years 2007, 2008, 2009.

The policy sets out that 13% of the national mackerel quota is available to the polyvalent segment as follows: 76.5% of the polyvalent mackerel quota is allocated to Tier 1 and 21% for Tier 2, the remaining 2.5% is available to cover the artisanal gill net fishermen and under 18m vessels with periodic boat catch limits set usually on a monthly or bi-monthly basis. Vessels qualified for either of the Tiers on the basis of having caught more than 35% of the mackerel allocated to them in an average of 2 of the reference years. In order to qualify for Tier 1 allocations, a vessel had to have landed more than an average of 275 tonnes of mackerel per year. To qualify for a Tier 2 allocation, a vessel had to have landed more than 25 tonnes of mackerel per year. These quantities were chosen so as to ensure that there is no general loss of fishing opportunities to vessels with qualifying track record, based on fishing in the period 2007-2009.

Given the long and detailed consultation process which went into development of the mackerel policy in recent years, I consider this policy settled.