The Government does not intend to enforce restrictions on Spanish vessels in the Irish Box until the legal position is clarified with Spain and the EU.
The Naval Service is conducting "business as usual" within Irish exclusive fishery limits, and has been directed not to detain any Spanish vessels which do not have licences for the Irish Box area 50 miles off the west coast.
Vessels boarded which do not have a licence may be warned they could be in breach of legislation, and details will be passed on to the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources.
Twelve Spanish vessels were fishing within the restricted area yesterday, while another 24 were outside the zone but within the Irish fishery limits. The Department said it was "monitoring the situation closely", but would make no comment on specific directions to the Naval Service.
Irish fishing industry leaders, who are due to meet the Minister, Mr Ahern, today, have reacted angrily to the enforcement approach. "Either Ireland has a clear legal position or it has not," said Mr Jason Whooley of the Irish South and West Fish Producers' Organisation.
"We do not want to see more than 40 Spanish vessels in that area." However, industry leaders have also accepted there will be no "invasion" of the Box in the short term, as January 6th is a significant festival in north-west Spain.
The Spanish government has made its own position clear by failing to submit a new periodic list of 40 vessels entitled to fish in the zone. However, the main industry organisation in Vigo has said there will be no increased fishing effort by its vessels in the area, or in Irish waters generally.
The Irish Box issue and the EU's new restrictions on days at sea, which will tie up vessels from Galway to Donegal for all but nine days' fishing a month, are the two main items on the agenda for this afternoon's meeting between Mr Ahern and the three industry organisations - the Irish South and West Fish Producers' Organisation, the Irish Fish Producers' Organisation and the Killybegs Fishermen's Organisation.
The junior Environment and Local Government Minister and Donegal South-West TD Mr Pat the Cope Gallagher said he supported the Irish fishing industry's stance on the issues. "I am very concerned that the days-at-sea limitations to be imposed off the Donegal coast, restricting Irish whitefish vessels to fishing only nine days a month, will mean major job losses in the catching and processing sectors in the north-west unless significant changes are made to the regulation."
On the Irish Box, he called on the Spanish fisheries minister, Mr Miguel Arias Canete, to "act responsibly" and ensure a 40-vessel limit stayed in place until new arrangements were made. "I am confident that Minister Dermot Ahern will strenuously defend the Irish Box when he meets with his Spanish counterpart," he said.
The European Commission has left it to Spain and Ireland to sort out the issue bilaterally. Last week, the Department said efforts were being made to arrange a meeting with the Spanish fisheries minister, but no date has as yet been confirmed. A spokesman said yesterday the next step would depend on the outcome of this afternoon's talks.