Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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1889. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his views on the call by a fishing representative organisation (details supplied) for fair access to restored and co-managed fishing grounds. [2415/23]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I wish to reassure the Deputy that I recognise the value and importance of maintaining a vibrant and sustainable small-scale sea-fishing sector.

As the Deputy may be aware, in December 2018, following a public consultation process in which over 900 submissions were received, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Marine announced that vessels over 18m would be excluded from trawling in inshore waters inside the six nautical mile zone and the baselines from 1 January 2020. A transition period of three years was allowed for vessels over 18m targeting sprat to enable adjustment for these vessels, as the sprat fishery is concentrated inside the six nautical mile zone.  

However, in 2019, a Judicial Review was taken by two applicant fishermen challenging the validity of the Policy giving effect to this restriction. The Court of Appeal issued an unapproved judgment on 19th July last and requested further submissions from both parties. These have been provided to the Court on my behalf. As this matter continues to be sub judice, I cannot comment further at this time.    

Quotas for fish stocks are available to small-scale coastal fishers who are licensed to fish for quota stocks including whitefish and pelagic stocks. Catch limits are set for whitefish stocks primarily based on the length of a fishing vessel. On this basis, all vessels under 55 feet in length receive the same catch limit.  The important pelagic stocks of mackerel, herring and horse mackerel already have allocations made available, in accordance with Ministerial policy, supporting smaller vessels.

The National Inshore Fisheries Forum (NIFF), supported by a network of Regional Inshore Forums (RIFFs) are supporting initiatives that seek to protect the collective interests of the inshore sector in Ireland. I formally recognised the Irish Islands Marine Resource Organisation (IIMRO) as an EU Producer Organisation in 2021 and I appointed it to the Quota Management Advisory Committee (QMAC).   Both the NIFF and IIMRO are both effective in their participation on the QMAC, advocating on behalf of all small-scale fishers to influence how Ireland's fish quotas are made available, within national policy.

I can advise the Deputy that I meet directly with the NIFF to hear the concerns and goals of the inshore fishing sector. The NIFF brought forward the first industry-led Strategy for the sector in 2019 and is now implementing this with support from my Department, Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM) and other agencies. The Strategy flowed from an extensive consultation process that engaged the inshore sector and other stakeholders. Priorities identified in the strategy include developing a profile of the inshore sector, building the sector’s capacity to engage with policy development and enhancing industry’s understanding of management and planning for inshore fisheries.