Mr. Wm. Rossasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what are the areas of the North Coast of Ireland which are reserved for inshore fishermen; and what are the limits regarding nets and boats.
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§ Mr. Dunn, pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 7th June 1976; Vol. 912, c. 548], gave the following information:
No waters off the north coast of Northern Ireland are reserved for local inshore fishermen. However, Regulation 4 of SR&O 95 of 1972, which applies equally to vessels registered in the Republic of Ireland, prohibits the use of fishing boats of greater than 50 foot registered length for trawling or seine netting off the coasts of Londonderry and Antrim within an area to the southward and westward of an imaginary straight line drawn from Fair Head, Co. Antrim, to Bull Point, Rathlin Island, and from Bull Point to the Whisling Buoy off Inishowen Head, Co. Donegal. As this area is within the exclusive fishery limits of the United Kingdom and the Irish Republic and adjacent to the coast of Northern Ireland, only boats registered in the United Kingdom and the Irish Republic may fish there. Vessels fishing for sea fish off the north coast of Northern Ireland must comply with the provisions of the Fishing Nets (North-East Atlantic) Order 1971, which prescribes the minimum sizes of mesh for fishing nets used by United Kingdom vessels in areas specified in the Order and by foreign vessels within the fishing limits of the British Islands adjacent to the United Kingdom. Fishing for salmon by vessels registered in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, is, in the Foyle area, controlled by regulations including, inter alia, regulations made by the Foyle Fisheries Commission regarding nets and boats; in the remainder of the United Kingdom fishery limits off Northern Ireland such fishing is controlled by comparable regulations made by the Northern Ireland Fisheries Conservancy Board.
Mr. Wm. Rossasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what are the United Kingdom fishing limits off the North Coast of Northern Ireland; over what areas within these limits are Eire fishermen allowed to fish; for what species they are allowed to fish; and what catch limits are imposed on Eire fishermen.
1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 Newcastle … 740 400 691 409 392 Ashington (opened in summer 1974) … — — — 18 127 Figures are not available for a part-time office located in the TAVR Barracks at Berwick-on-Tweed.
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§ Mr. Dunn, pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 7th June 1976; Vol. 912, c. 548], gave the following information:
United Kingdom fishing limits extend to 12 miles off the north coast of Northern Ireland from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured. Vessels of EEC member States have rights to fish for all species in the belt between six and 12 miles from the baselines. Under a catch limitation scheme under the auspices of the North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission, of which the United Kingdom and the Irish Republic are members, fishermen from the Republic may catch a quota of 12,700 tons of herring during 1976 in Area VIa, which extends to the waters off the north coast of Ireland and the west coast of Scotland and includes waters within the United Kingdom fishery limits off Northern Ireland. Within the exclusive fishery limits, to a distance of six miles from the baselines, vessels from the Republic by virtue of a voisinage agreement may fish for all species provided they abide by the same regulations as apply to United Kingdom vessels.