Marine expert Dr Kevin Flannery has called for a commission of inquiry into how successive governments have managed Ireland’s fishing resource.
In an Irish Independent feature on the impact of the 60 million euro whitefish fleet decommissioning scheme – totalling 80 million euro including tax credits – Flannery also says people will drive around the west coast in a few years and wonder where all the Irish boats have gone.
The decommissioning scheme aims to scrap 60 vessels – a third of the active whitefish fleet, at a time of growing concern over food security.
It will be funded from the Brexit Adjustment Reserve to compensate for quota losses due to Brexit.
“In reality, an Irish skipper would be better off now taking the decommissioning money and buying a vessel registered in France to fish from its quota,”Flannery says.
“The Spanish have been doing this for years, and now the Dutch are at it too. You take one well known Dutch fishing company and it has a turnover equivalent to the total turnover of the Irish fleet.
“Our politicians always seem to view fishing as a problem, rather than an industry which could help us with food security,”Flannery says.
Marine expert Dr Kevin Flannery
Flannery says that Shetland is buying up vessel tonnage to keep for its fishermen, who may need it later, and believes the Ireland should not be scrapping viable vessels permanently.
John Lynch of the IS&EFPO says Ireland’s last hope is in the upcoming review of the EU's Common Fisheries Policy – but he isn’t holding his breath.
“We have the best and most productive waters in Europe,” Aodh O’Donnell of the IFPO says, pointing out that the Government here has a duty to initiate development plans for those left in the fleet.
“ Irish fish producers have contributed to the sustainable management of fish stocks, while others have been able to exploit resources in our rich waters. Decommissioning is our Government’s solution to a historical legacy of failing to deliver for industry and coastal communities,” O’Donnell says.
Aodh O’Donnell of the IFPO
Vessel owner Caitlín Uí Aodha from Helvick, Co Waterford, says increased regulations, fuel prices and Brexit-related quota losses have piled on the pressure, she says.
“I think my family has been involved in fishing since before the Famine,” she says. “My grandfather fished, my father, brothers, cousins...and now maybe I am the last one in that line.”
“If farmers in Munster – a beautiful green province – were told that they had to sell off their farms to one or two investment companies, there would be an outcry, but that is the agricultural equivalent of what is happening here. And once you surrender your license, there is no way back in...”
Read more in The Irish Independent here
