S.I. No. 387/2014 - Sea-Fisheries (Celtic Sea Discard Reduction Dividend Scheme) Regulations 2014.

1. The panel shall be a rectangular section of netting. The netting shall be single twine. The meshes shall be square meshes, i.e. square-meshed netting shall mean a construction of netting mounted so that of the two sets of parallel lines formed by the mesh bars, one set is parallel to, and the other at right angles to, the longitudinal axis of the net.

2. The square mesh panel shall be made of knotless meshing or non-slip knots.

3. The mesh size shall be equal or more than 120 millimetres. The length of the panel shall be at least 3 metres except when incorporated into nets towed by vessels of less than 112 kW, when it shall be of at least 2 metres in length.

Location of the panel

4. The square-meshed panel as referred to in paragraph 1 shall be placed into the top panel of the net. The rearmost edge of the square-meshed panel, which is the part closest to the codline, shall be no more than 9 metres from the codline.

Insertion of the panel into net

5. In any net in which a square-meshed panel is inserted in an untapered portion of the net, there shall be at most five open diamond meshes between each panel side and the adjacent selvedges of the net.

6. In any net in which a square-meshed panel is inserted, wholly or partially, into a tapered portion of the net there shall be at most five open diamond meshes between the posterior row of meshes in the square-meshed panel and the adjacent selvedges of the net.

7. The joining rate between the diamond meshes and the square mesh panel at the anterior and posterior ends of the square mesh panel shall be at least two diamond meshes to one square mesh for 100mm or greater cod ends.

GIVEN under my Official Seal,

8 August 2014.

SIMON COVENEY,

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the instrument and does not purport to be a legal interpretation)

This instrument supports the protection of juvenile stocks in the Celtic Sea, West of 8° W and allows for a voluntary scheme whereby vessels opting to fish with a highly selective gear may receive additional catch limits of Cod, Whiting and/or Haddock.

Notice of the making of this Statutory Instrument was published in

“Iris Oifigiúil” of

22

nd August

, 2014.

I, SIMON COVENEY, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by

section 15

of the

Sea-Fisheries and Maritime Jurisdiction Act 2006

(No. 8 of 2006) and the Sea Fisheries, Foreshore and Dumping at Sea (Transfer of Departmental Administration and Ministerial Functions) Order 2007 (

S.I. No. 707 of 2007

) (as adapted by the Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Alteration of Name of Department and Title of Minister) Order 2011 (

S.I. No. 455 of 2011

)), hereby make the following regulations