Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 25 March 2025
609. Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his plans to secure an Irish quota for bluefin tuna; the increase in bluefin tuna quota allocated to the European Union under International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas over the past decade. [13470/25]
View answerThe Bluefin Tuna quota available to the EU 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 in securing, for the first time, an agreement that allowed Ireland to set up a catch-tag-release fishery to contribute to the collection of scientific data for the Bluefin 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.
The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) is an intergovernmental organisation responsible for the conservation of tuna stocks, including Bluefin Tuna, in the Atlantic Ocean and adjacent seas. The EU is a contracting party to ICCAT.
A recovery plan for Bluefin Tuna was adopted by ICCAT in 2006 to address the alarming depletion in the levels of this stock. This resulted in greatly reduced catch limits in the Mediterranean and Eastern Atlantic Ocean in an effort to rebuild stocks. As the stock began to improve, ICCAT moved from a recovery to a management plan in 2018. A new Bluefin Tuna management plan was adopted in 2022 which saw an increase for all contracting parties with a share of Bluefin Tuna, including the EU.
Ireland has made clear to EU Member States and the European Commission that Ireland considers that there is a case for an allocation of Bluefin Tuna quota to be made available to Ireland for a targeted fishery, in light of this increase and the data collected in the Catch-Tag-Release science-based fishery.
Ireland has requested the opening of discussions at EU level to progress our case. However, opening up this issue is difficult as other Member States are resistant to any discussion on amending relative stability for this stock. Any change to the existing system of quota allocations would require a majority of Member States to agree under the Qualified Majority Voting system. Any change to the current relative stability would involve a loss for some other Member States and, therefore, poses particular challenges in a qualified majority voting context.
Notwithstanding these challenges, 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.
