Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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803. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his views on the call by a fishing representative organisation (details supplied) for an equitable allocation of fishing opportunities to small-scale low impact fishers, using Article 17 to reallocate fishing rights to smaller scale, environmentally compatible, economically viable and socially responsible fishery activities, rewarding a positive history of compliance and ending the sole use of track records as the tool for allocating fishing opportunities by member states, and putting an end to the privatisation of fishery resource access. [4798/23]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy will be aware, in Ireland, fishing quotas are a public resource and are managed to ensure that property rights are not granted to individual operators. This is seen as a critical policy to ensure that quotas are not concentrated into the hands of large fishing companies whose owners have the financial resources to buy up such rights.  It is worth noting that within the EU, a significant number of quota systems have been privatised for their main commercial stocks. In Ireland, allocations are not owned and when an allocation is not fished it is returned to the State for re-distribution to the fleet. This policy helps to support a fishing  fleet with operations based in the adjacent coastal communities. In Ireland, any movement towards privatisation and concentration of rights into the hands of large companies would seriously risk fishing vessels losing an economic link with Ireland’s coastal communities and undermining the socio-economic importance of the fishing industry in the coastal communities dependent on fishing. The result of this long-standing policy is that the Irish fishing fleet involves a balanced spread of sizes and types of fishing vessels who have retained a strong economic link with our coastal communities and have delivered economic activity including vital employment in these communities, where there are very limited alternative economic activities

Consultation on the management of quotas within National Policy is carried out each month at the Quota Management Advisory Committee (QMAC) meeting involving fishing industry representatives from the catching (Producer Organisations, National Inshore Fisheries Forum (NIFF) and co-operatives) and processing sectors, the Department and the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority (SFPA).   The QMAC examines in detail the operation of each fishery, available quota and uptake patterns for the different metiers of fishing vessels. Detailed discussions are held taking account of the situation of the fleet and the market.   The recommendations of the QMAC are brought to my attention to inform my decision on the management arrangements within National Policy. 

I have recently launched a public consultation on a review of the 2012 Herring Management Policy, in relation to the quantity of herring set aside from the southern North-West herring stock (Herring 6A South) for smaller/ inshore fishing vessels.

In relation to private ownership of Ireland's fishing resources, I will continue to ensure that Ireland’s fishing quotas are maintained as a public resource.