The Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority (SFPA) says it will continue to engage with fishing industry representatives after an online meeting was held yesterday in relation to the row over fish landings.
The row erupted last month after Danish vessel Ruth headed back to Denmark instead of landing some 1200 tonnes of blue whiting for human consumption into Killybegs, Co Donegal on March 31st.
The SFPA had directed that the catch be landed over a weighbridge instead of a pierside system.
Since then, several Norwegian vessels have opted to land into Derry over the border, rather than into Killybegs - then trucking catches to south Donegal, while a number of vessels either abandoned attempts to land or sold catch destined for human consumption as fish meal.
The SFPA said in a statement that the interim fisheries control plan enables 95% of bulk landings of pelagic fish to avail of an exemption to weigh-after-transport, meaning that just 5% are subject to supervised weighing on landing.
The Danish fishing vessel MV Ruth, arrived to land 1,270 tonnes of blue whiting for local processing and export to Africa but left port with the fish still aboard
“Over the past five days, approximately 9,500 tonnes of bulk pelagic fish were landed at Killybegs harbour, totalling 20 landings. During this same period, one vessel chose to leave port and sail to Derry to discharge its catch,” it said.
The SFPA said the meeting discussed a number of items. This included “ two options for conducting weighing before transport currently available in Killybegs harbour for the 5% of landings which are selected for supervised weighing”.
The SFPA said it outlined in detail how, in both instances, fish are in water when weighed in order to preserve the quality of the catch.
SFPA executive chair Paschal Hayes said “as the regulator with responsibility for sea-fisheries and the seafood production sector, our role is to ensure that landings of fish in Ireland are in compliance with the EU Common Fisheries Policy to safeguard sustainable fishing stocks in Irish and European waters”.
SFPA executive chair Paschal Hayes
“The interim fisheries control plan agreed between Ireland and EU Commission in December 2021 enables 95% of bulk pelagic landings to be weighed in permitted fish processors, on the condition that 5% of landings – estimated at 30 landings annually – are weighed under supervision pierside,” he said.
“It is our intention to continue to meet the conditions agreed in Ireland’s control plan so that the entire industry can benefit of the exemptions on weighing after transport,” Hayes said.
