Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)
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194. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the action he will take in regard to providing compensation for fishermen who suffered losses as a result of recent adverse weather conditions (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9795/14]

Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
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201. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will apply to the EU solidarity fund for emergency funding for fishermen whose incomes have been devastated by the recent adverse weather; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9898/14]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 194 and 201 together.

Fishing through the winter is difficult in normal circumstances but I am acutely conscious that the severe weather has caused the fishing fleet to be tied up for quite an extended period, a longer period than would be the norm with more typical winter weather. As the catching sector is by definition dependant on being able to go out and catch fish, and crews earn their living through a share of the catch, many fishermen have suffered financially because of this extended period restricted to port. Thankfully, we had a long overdue break in the weather last week and many of the vessels that were harbour bound due to the severe weather were able to return to fishing and to some extent make up for lost time. No doubt we will continue to have intermittent stormy conditions in the weeks and months ahead, as is normal for this time of year, but I am hopeful that fishermen will be able to put to sea on a regular basis so that they can put that difficult period behind them.

As income from fishing is derived from landings of catch, the amount that can be caught and therefore the income from most fisheries is determined by the EU quotas which are restrictive, and made available under our management arrangements with catch limits set for whitefish each month. The quotas are managed to allow for access to quota for the full twelve months of the year, as far as possible. This may mean in many cases that the allocations made available for certain months are set at low levels, certainly less than Industry would like and would be capable of landing.

I always work very closely with, and I am advised by industry when setting catch limits during the year. Each month, a quota management advisory committee, involving Industry representatives and my Department, meets and examines available quota, uptake levels and the market situation and make recommendations to me on catch limits for the following month. The quota uptake figures for January 2014 and for the first part of February are significantly down. In order that vessel owners and their crews are enabled to compensate as early as possible for these low catch levels, allocations for March were set for a number of the key economic stocks at a higher level than in February. The level recommended by industry took account of concerns not to glut the market with very high landings in a single month and on that basis the arrangements recommended and put in place involve modest increases in key whitefish stocks including cod, haddock and whiting in the Celtic Sea, monkfish and megrim in the Celtic Sea and the hake stock in the Celtic Sea and the north west. These increased quotas and fishing opportunities for March will help to re-balance the landings to bring them more into line with planned annual spread of quota uptake. They can be further adjusted in April to take into account of the low level of landings in the first 6 weeks of the year.

In relation to any specific payments to compensate for lost earnings, the Minister for Social Protection has overall responsibility for funding income support to individuals and families who have been unable to work because of adverse weather conditions. Minister Burton’s Department runs a number of schemes to support people in circumstances of loss of income.

While the co-legislators have reached political agreement on the proposed Regulation establishing the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund, it will not be adopted in law until probably June this year. My Department is working to prepare a new Operational Programme for the seafood sector under the EMFF. That Programme is dependent on the progress of the proposed Regulation and so is likely to be finalised towards the end of the year. Decisions on what to do with the finite resources available to Ireland under that Operational Programme will be a key element of that work and I am working closely with all stakeholders in making those hard choices between many competing and worthwhile investment priorities. It is thus premature from both a legal and practical perspective to consider employing the EMFF to assist fishermen in the present situation.