Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 25 March 2025
611. Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will urgently review the landing obligation requirements at piers and harbours around the coast, in cooperation with the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority, to ensure fishermen operating smaller vessels are not endangered. [13472/25]
View answerThe Landing Obligation, or Discards Ban, was introduced on a phased basis beginning in 2015, and has been fully implemented since 2019. It is illegal to discard any species covered by the Landing Obligation, other than permitted exemptions. These exemptions are fish species covered by a high survivability exemption, a de minimis exemption, fish which has been damaged by predators, prohibited species and species not managed under the Total Allowable Catch (TAC) and Quota system.
As regards the process of landing fish, under EU rules, certain quantities and species of fish must be landed into designated ports. In addition, landings by Third Country vessels (including UK-registered Northern Ireland vessels) must take place at ports designated for that purpose.
The lists of these designated ports is available on the website of the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority (SFPA) www.sfpa.ie.
There are significant practical and cost implications for the State in the designation of ports, in that, for any ports designated, Ireland is obliged to ensure that it has in place a meaningful control presence.
The current ports designated, and the opening days and times for those ports, were decided in order to allow vessels to continue to land into Irish ports, while ensuring that the SFPA has the capacity to continue to perform its vital control functions effectively.
The designation of ports for landings does not preclude vessels from coming into ports for force majeure reasons such as safe harbour.
