Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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59. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will provide an update on the efforts of the Government to secure a quota in bluefin tuna for the Irish fishing fleet from Ireland’s own EEZ. [8427/23]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Ireland does not have a national quota for Bluefin Tuna. The available Bluefin Tuna quota is allocated each year to Member States based on relative stability as established in the late 1990s. At that time, Ireland did not have a track record of commercial fishing for Bluefin Tuna and, accordingly, did not receive a quota allocation.

A small Bluefin Tuna by-catch quota is available to Ireland, primarily for use in our important Northern Albacore Tuna fishery and Celtic Sea Herring fishery where there can be Bluefin Tuna by-catch.

In 2018, Ireland was successful, for the first time, in securing an agreement that allowed Ireland to set up a catch-tag-release fishery to contribute to the collection of scientific data for the blue fin tuna stock. A Catch-Tag-Release science-based fishery for authorised recreational angling vessels has been in place since 2019 and supports the collection of valuable data on the migratory patterns of Bluefin Tuna in Irish waters. This fishery is most beneficial to Ireland as it increases our knowledge of the behaviour and abundance of bluefin tuna in Northwestern waters while also providing a small but valuable tourism benefit to peripheral coastal communities.

A new Bluefin Tuna management plan was adopted at November’s International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) meeting, which will see an increase for all contracting parties with a share of the Bluefin Tuna Total Allowable Catch, including the EU.

I wish to assure the Deputy that Ireland made clear to EU Member States and the European Commission at the EU internal meetings during the course of the ICCAT meeting that Ireland considers that there is a case for an allocation of part of the increase in the Bluefin Tuna quota to be made available to Ireland for a targeted fishery. The case is supported by the data collected in the Catch-Tag-Release science-based fishery for authorised recreational angling vessels.

I therefore requested the opening of discussions at EU level to progress our case and I made a formal statement to this effect at December Agrifish Council. Opening up this issue is difficult as other Member States are resistant to any discussion on amending relative stability for this stock, but I believe that there is a strong case for Ireland, given the abundance of Bluefin Tuna in our waters and I will continue to pursue it at every opportunity.