John Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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114. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to outline his views on the sightings of super trawlers fishing off the western seaboard; the effect this is having on Irish fish stocks in Irish territorial waters; if such vessels have been inspected by the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority or by the Navy; if such activity is in breach of Irish and European Union fishing regulations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43223/15]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Control of the vessel within Ireland’s Exclusive Fisheries Zone is a matter for the Irish control authorities who monitor fishing activity of all vessels operating the area.  The Control authorities have on-going information in relation to the vessels operating in the Irish Exclusive Fisheries zone including their activities and characteristics.

Under the Sea Fisheries and Maritime Jurisdiction Act, 2006, all operational issues of this nature concerning sea fisheries control are, as a matter of law, exclusively for the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority (SFPA) and the Naval Service. As Minister, I am precluded from getting involved in operational matters including in relation to law enforcement. The SFPA and the Naval Service through the Fisheries Monitoring Centre has monitored the movements of these vessels when in our Exclusive Fisheries Zone, using the Vessel Monitoring System (VMS), Automatic Identification System (AIS) and declared catches through Electronic Reporting System (ERS). I am advised that there are three freezer vessels currently in our EFZ. This risk assessment had informed the SFPA’s identification of some of those vessels as a high priority for at-sea inspection, and aircraft surveillance. The SFPA is reliant on the seagoing fishery patrol activity of the Naval Service to verify compliance of vessels not landing into Ireland. The weather has been particularly severe in the recent past. Boarding vessels of this size at sea creates specific challenges and to date the operational decision of the Naval service has been that weather has been too severe to safely attempt a boarding operation.

I am advised that the Naval Service has ships on patrol and are ready to conduct boarding operations on these vessels when weather conditions permit.

In relation to the overall framework for fisheries control in the EU, in October 2009 a new regulation dealing with fisheries controls was adopted. Council Regulation 1224/2009 establishes a Community control system for ensuring compliance with the rules of the common fisheries policy. Control and inspection is now focused where it is most effective through an approach based on systematic risk analysis. Inspection procedures are standardised and harmonised for all stages in the market chain, including transport and marketing.  The Control Regulations were introduced so that there is a common EU level playing field and to provide for an effective range of controls across EU waters.