Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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341. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if a vessel from the UK and Northern Ireland needs to hold an allocation of mussel seed given by him to an aquaculture site here in order to fish legally under the Sea Fisheries (Amendment) Act 2019; if such a vessel will be permitted to fish an allocation of mussel seed given to it by an authority in Northern Ireland in the territorial waters of the State; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40620/19]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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342. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if a vessel from the UK and Northern Ireland will be permitted to fish an allocation of mussel seed given to it by an authority in another part of the UK such as Wales to fish mussel seed in the territorial waters of the State under the Sea Fisheries (Amendment) Act 2019; if a fishing vessel owned by a Welsh company will meet the criteria of owned and operated in Northern Ireland to fish an allocation under the 2019 Act; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40621/19]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 341 and 342 together.

The Sea Fisheries (Amendment) Act 2019 amends section 10 of the Sea Fisheries and Maritime Jurisdiction Act. The relevant excerpt from the legislation is as follows:

““10. (1) Subject to section 9 and subsection (2), a person on board a foreign sea-fishing boat shall not fish or attempt to fish while the boat is within the exclusive fishery limits unless he or she is authorised by law to do so.

(2) A person who is on board a sea-fishing boat owned and operated in Northern Ireland may fish or attempt to fish while the boat is within the area between 0 and 6 nautical miles as measured from the baseline (within the meaning of section 85) if, at that time, both the person and the boat comply with any obligation specified in subsection (3) which would apply in the same circumstances if the boat were an Irish sea-fishing boat.

(3) The obligations referred to in subsection (2) are the following:

(a) an obligation under the Sea-Fisheries Acts 2003 to 2019 or regulations made under those Acts;

(b) an obligation under the Fisheries Acts 1959 to 2019 or regulations made under those Acts;

(c) an obligation contained in regulations made under section 3 of the European Communities Act 1972;

(d) an obligation under a provision of the treaties of the European Union, or a provision of an act adopted by an institution of the European Union, an institution of the European Communities or a body competent under those treaties;

(e) an obligation specified in a policy directive given by the Minister under section 3(2)(b) of the Act of 2003;

(f) such other obligation as the Minister may specify in regulations under section 3.

(4) A person who contravenes subsection (1) commits an offence.”

Accordingly, only sea-fishing boats which meet the requirements set out in the legislation may legally fish in the area subject to the legislation. As I put on record during the passage of the legislation through the Oireachtas, I understand that the authorities in Northern Ireland have and do license their vessels to fish for mussel seed and apply terms and conditions just as is the case for Irish sea-fishing boats which engage in the same form of fishing.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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343. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the basis for an effective pooling of the mussel seed resource of the State in a system of joint management with a state that has no mussel seed resource in relation to a judgment (details supplied); the basis in law for a process which facilitates alienation of Irish mussel seed resource to the benefit of aquaculture sites in the UK; if he has sought the advice of the Attorney General on the matter; and if not, his plans to do so; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40622/19]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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Irish sea-fishing boats are authorised to fish for mussel seed within the exclusive fishery limits of the State under s. 13 of the Sea-Fisheries and Maritime Jurisdiction Act 2006. Persons on board vessels owned and operated in Northern Ireland are permitted to fish for mussel seed in the waters within 0 to 6 nautical miles of the baseline under s. 10(2) of the 2006 Act, as amended by the Sea-Fisheries (Amendment) Act 2019.

I am advised that these provisions form the legislative basis for the regulation and management of the natural resource in accordance with the requirements of Article 10 of the Constitution and the judgment of the Supreme Court in Barlow & Ors -v- Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine & Ors [2017] I.R. 440. No person, including the operator of an aquaculture site in the State or in Northern Ireland, may be authorised to fish for mussel seed in these waters other than in accordance with these provisions. Extensive advice has been sought from the Office of the Attorney General on the interpretation of the requirements of the Barlow judgment.