Pelagic Pair Fishing
Pair fishing, including three-way groupings are an ongoing component of Irish pelagic fishing. Pair fishing is defined in Article 13 (19) of the Sea Fisheries Maritime Jurisdiction Act as “Pair trawling means, in relation to an authorised boat, the towing or trawling of a trawl, seine or other net by the boat jointly with another authorised boat for the purpose of catching fish.”
To partake in pair fishing for pelagic species vessels under a condition of their respective authorisations must apply for and receive approval to pair fish prior to the commencement of fishing in a pairing arrangement.
The authorisation holder of the vessel or his/her agent shall notify the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority by e-mail to pairingapplications@sfpa.ie of his/her intention to so fish and of the identity and authorisation number of each of the other boats and the period in which it is proposed to so fish. Approval for the proposed pairing must be received in writing from SFPA before fishing commences. The approved pairing arrangements shall be the only pairing arrangements that may be carried out in compliance with this authorisation for a fishing period. Catches of one vessel will be regarded as catches of the group and any and all catches of any one of these vessels within this pairing arrangement will be reckoned against the cumulative total of all the allocations of these individual vessels. This cumulative total will be used for the purposes of quota balancing.
When applying to enter into a pairing arrangement it is necessary that all participants complete the application form title “Application to enter into a Pairing Arrangement” and submit it to the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority by email to pairingapplications@sfpa.ie
Where vessels do seek to terminated pairing arrangements, these can only be considered in exceptional circumstances e.g. breakdown of a vessel, replacement vessel. These circumstances must be outlined in the “Application to Terminate a Pairing Arrangement.” It is necessary that all participants complete the application and submit it to the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority by email to pairingapplications@sfpa.ie
Under no circumstances will pairings be approved retrospectively.