A leading Irish fishing industry representative has called for a just transition that allows coastal communities to survive and thrive.
Irish South and East Fish Producers’ Organisation chief executive John Lynch was addressing an informal meeting in Cork earlier this week involving the EU ministers and European Commissioner for Fisheries and Oceans Costas Kadis.
Lynch was invited to address the attendance on behalf of the Irish seafood industry. The two day event in Cork was held as part of Ireland’s EU presidency.
The impact of spatial squeeze, climate change and outdated management systems were among issues which he highlighted in a scathing criticism of an outdated EU Common Fisheries Policy (CFP).
“For many years, there was one explanation for every problem in the ocean, and it was overfishing. And it was an easy explanation, because it had a culprit, and the culprit was us,”he said.
“I am not here to tell you overfishing never happened. It did. But we are now realising, and the science is realising, that stock change is also being driven fundamentally by climate change,”he continued.
“Everyone in the room has seen what climate change is doing on land, in the fires in France and Spain. It is doing the same thing in the water; we just cannot see it. And species we built an industry on are going the other way. We are catching species on the Irish coast that were never here in huge numbers, such as anchovy, blue fin tuna and boarfish,”he said.
“If species are moving, then opportunities are moving too. Where new fisheries present themselves, the policy must be adaptive to let us exploit them. Now it is not, neither at EU level or nationally here in Ireland,”he said.
On spatial squeeze, Lynch recognised the need for offshore renewable energy ( ORE) and marine protected areas, but called for a just transition where adjustments have to be made.
“Climate change was not caused by fishermen. But the solution to climate change is being built in the ocean, and it is fishermen who are being asked to carry the cost of it,”he said.
Fishermen were being told to “move your gear, move your pots, go fish somewhere else”, with no meaningful impact assessment, no compensation framework, and no transition scheme in most cases, he said.
“This has a particular impact on our small scale fisheries and the local processors with communities depending on a consistent supply of shell fish for export and to support local seafood tourism,”he pointed out.
“There is a solution to European fishing that an economist could put in front of you tomorrow morning. A few big multinationals controlling all of the quota, landing everything it catches into a few big ports across Europe,”he said.
Whlle this might be easier to manage, more efficient and yielding the same amount of fish, it would “be the end of Castletownbere, and of Howth, and ports across Europe such as La Coruna, Ostend and St Malo”, he said.
He outlined the devastating impact on the Irish industry of Brexit and the loss of access to the Hague Preferences at last December’s fisheries council, and called for CFP reforms which ensured a more equitable share of quotas.
“The sharing of quotas on the basis of relative stability has not changed since 1982, based on track records from 40-50 years ago,”he noted.
“ Fisheries have evolved but the policy hasn’t. A step change to how quotas are allocated is badly needed,”he said.
Lynch called for support for the introduction of new energy efficient and emission reducing engines using the latest technology to achieve our climate goals, and said that some flexibility will be required in the individual capacity ceilings.
“Similarly additional modern crew accommodation and facilities with more space and comfort to attract young people into the industry will create a need for additional capacity,”he said.
“Neither of these are increasing the catching capacity of the vessel but will help us to meet our climate targets and attract the next generation of fishermen,”he said.
He also criticised aspects of the landing obligation, due to its “mismatch” between a correct objective and operational reality.
“Ministers, there will always be fish in the ocean. Our job, all of us in this room, is to agree how we manage it, and to make sure that the communities who have fished it for generations are still there when we do,”he said.
Outlining his own experience in the industry, Lynch said that he had a brother now moving to ORE for more security, and a son, Conor, who wants to continue to fish.
“For many fishermen the CFP was written for yesterday. It must become a document written for tomorrow,”he said.
