John Brassil (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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553. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if special arrangements can be made to accommodate the licensing in 2017 of mussel seed fishermen who have UK-registered boats in view of the Supreme Court judgment that has resulted in authorisations for the 2017 mussel seed fishery being provided only to eligible Irish sea fishing boats nominated to fish mussel seed allocations on behalf of aquaculture sites that are licensed by his Department or are provided for in legislation. [32233/17]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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The mussel seed fishery is managed on an all-island basis, in conjunction with the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland (DAERA NI) and the cross-border Loughs Agency. To fish for mussel seed, Irish-registered sea-fishing boats require an authorisation under section 13 of the Sea-Fisheries and Maritime Jurisdiction Act 2006. Authorisations are only provided to those boats which are directly connected with a bottom grown mussel aquaculture operator who holds a mussel seed “allocation” for his or her aquaculture site or boats that are contracted to fish on behalf of same. An allocation restricts the amount (tonnes) of mussel seed that may be relayed onto a given site. Boats from Northern Ireland require equivalent licenses from DAERA NI to take part in the fishery and must meet corresponding regulatory requirements.

On 27 October 2016, the Supreme Court issued a judgment in a case taken by a number of mussel seed fishermen (Barlow & ors -v- Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine & ors [2016] IESC 62, 27th October 2016). In the judgment, the Supreme Court found that fishing by Northern Ireland boats within the 0 to 6 nautical mile zone of the territorial waters of the State under the Voisinage arrangements is not permitted by law. The Voisinage Arrangements are long-standing reciprocal arrangements which allow fishing boats from Northern Ireland access to fish within the 0 to 6 nautical mile zone of the territorial waters of the State and vice versa.

It is important to note that the Supreme Court upheld the High Court finding that the Voisinage Arrangements are not invalid but that, as it stands, there is insufficient provision for them in domestic law. The Supreme Court in fact noted that the arrangements were a sensible recognition at official level of practice and tradition, where fishing boats traditionally fished neighbouring waters.

The application of the judgment is to all fishing by Northern Irish fishing boats in the 0 to 6 nautical mile zone relying on the Voisinage Arrangements. Fishing activities that have a legal basis are not affected, such as those reliant on the access arrangements to Ireland's 6 to 12 nautical mile zone set out in Regulation (EU) No. 1380/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council.

The Government approved the publication of the Sea-Fisheries (Amendment) Bill to address issues raised by the Supreme Court judgment of 27 October 2016, in so far as it relates to access for NI vessels. If enacted and commenced, the Bill will give the Voisinage Arrangements a proper legal footing. The Bill was published in February 2017 and is available on the Oireachtas website. The Bill has been debated in the Seanad and now is at Committee Stage there.

While the Bill proposes to restore access to Northern Ireland boats to fish, under the terms of the Voisinage Arrangements, boats that make use of this access are subject to the same rules and conditions that apply to Irish sea-fishing boats. The Bill itself does not apply the specific conditions. Therefore, other parallel associated measures will be required to ensure that rules and conditions in place for Irish sea-fishing boats are appropriately applied to Northern Ireland boats fishing under the Voisinage Arrangements.

The process of identifying which conditions may need to be applied is under way. The conditions will include such restrictions as currently apply to Irish sea-fishing boats. When the necessary measures have been identified, the most appropriate mechanisms for applying them to Northern Ireland boats will be determined. The objective will be for these measures to come into effect at the same time as a commencement order for the Bill.

Together, the Bill and the associated measures will re-establish the status quo for fishing access that existed under the Voisinage Arrangements before the Supreme Court's judgment on 27 October 2016. The only difference will be that the Voisinage Arrangements will be provided for within a legislative framework.