Martin Ferris (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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485. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if his Department will allow for permanent observers on board super trawlers operating within the whale and dolphin sanctuary off the west coast [35747/16]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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In 1991 the Irish Government declared all Irish Waters a whale and dolphin sanctuary. The National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) section of the Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs is the responsible authority for the State’s nature conservation responsibilities.

In terms of fishing, the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) is the fisheries policy of the EU.  It is a set of rules for managing EU fishing fleets and for conserving stocks. 

Under the Common Fisheries Policy, Council Regulation (EC) No 812/2004 of 26/4/2004 sets down measures concerning incidental catches of cetaceans in fisheries.  The Regulation requires that, inter-alia, Member States design and implement monitoring schemes for incidental catches of cetaceans using observers on board the vessels flying their flag and with an overall length of 15m or more, for defined fisheries. The fisheries subject to this requirement includes pelagic fisheries.

National reports required under Council Regulation (EC) No 812/2004 are published on the website of the Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans in the Baltic, North East Atlantic, Irish and North Seas .

The Regulation does not require that every vessel carries an observer and the Regulation puts the obligation on the Flag Member State to design and implement the scheme rather than the vessel or the coastal state in whose waters the fishing takes place. It is a matter of competence for the Flag Member State of the vessel concerned to ensure that observers are onboard where required under their national scheme.