ATTEMPTS BY the European Commission to harmonise controls on fishing in EU waters should not place “new burdens” on governments and industry, the Oireachtas Committee on European Scrutiny has warned.
A report published by the Oireachtas committee on the EU proposals says “significant amendments” are needed for the plan to be “acceptable to Irish interests”.
The proposed inclusion of recreational fishing – such as sea angling – in quota systems, and the inclusion of vessels under 15m in satellite control systems, are among key issues requiring “specific amendment” from an Irish perspective, the Oireachtas committee report says.
The new control system has been mooted by the European Commission due to criticisms of the current regime by the European Court of Auditors.
The new system intends to try to harmonise inspection procedures, introduce a “penalty points” system for fishing skippers, and strengthen the European Commission’s own powers to intervene in national management.
Although Ireland has some of the richest fishing grounds in Europe, the Naval Service and Sea Fisheries Protection Agency are hampered in inspecting non-Irish vessels, due to a lack of available information on their specific quota entitlements in these waters.
Information on a number of Spanish vessels’ entitlements was available during the lifetime of the “Irish Box”, established after Spanish and Portuguese accession to the EU for a limited period to protect sensitive spawning grounds 50 miles off this coastline.
Since the abolition of the “Irish Box”, the number of arrests by the Naval Service of non-Irish vessels has dropped significantly, with inspectors unable to act even where there is a strong suspicion of illegal catching by non-Irish vessels in these waters.
The new system should allow member states to share such information, and Minister of State for Fisheries Tony Killeen supports harmonisation in principle.
However, he has also expressed his own reservations about aspects of the new EU proposals to the Oireachtas Committee on European Scrutiny, chaired by Fine Gael TD John Perry.
The committee’s report says the main elements of this new regime must be an integral part of the forthcoming review of the Common Fisheries Policy in 2012. It also says it is aware that legal advice on introducing administrative sanctions for minor fishery offences has been sought by another Oireachtas committee – on agriculture, fisheries and food – which would have a bearing on the issue.
It expresses concern about the EU proposals requiring vessels to make landing declarations within a two-hour period, the “lack of a clear initiative” on how to deal with the controversial issue of discards, and the proposed reduction in the margin of tolerance in logbook recordings to 5 per cent.
The Federation of Irish Fishermen, which gave its submission to the Oireachtas committee, has said it supports any attempt to introduce a “level playing field”, but believes control measures that complicate things represent “institutional overkill”.
A Green Paper on the policy review is due to be published by the EU shortly.
