Fishermen: We need action, not a ‘talking shop’
Many fear Brexit will make industry ‘unviable’
IRISH fishermen are concerned a task force set up to support coastal communities following Brexit will become a ‘talking shop’ – and that the sector will eventually become ‘unviable’ here.
Representatives from the fishing industry said the Brexit trade agreement reached on Christmas Eve has ‘failed’ Irish fishermen and is a ‘bad deal’.
Under the terms of the Brexit agreement, Irish fleets will have to give back 25% of fish caught in UK waters.
Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue said that after meeting fishing groups, he will set up a task force to seek recommendations on how to
‘Immediate action needed’
support the sector. However, Seán O’Donoghue, chief executive of the Killybegs Fishermen’s Organisation in Co. Donegal, said some issues needed immediate action.
‘We welcome the task force, but there are two things I am concerned about,’ he said. ‘Number one, that it becomes a talking shop – and secondly, that it delays us from the immediate action that we need. We need to immediately take up the burden-sharing and it can’t be waiting for a task force to decide on something like that.’
The industry said that based on the current burden-sharing equation, Ireland will incur losses of €42million.
It amounts to a loss of 15% in the value of all fish caught by Irish fleets. However, other EU member states are incurring losses of about 7%.
Giving evidence to the Oireachtas Agriculture Committee yesterday, Mr McConalogue said the task force will provide recommendations for local coastal communities.
‘I intend to set out the arrangements and the terms of reference for this task force later next week,’ he added.
‘I will ask the task force to immediately focus on possible arrangements for a temporary fleet tie-up scheme to counter the impacts of the reduction in quotas which will impact from the beginning of April.’
John Ward, of the Irish Fish Producers Organisation, said the group wants the issues in the ‘terrible Brexit deal’ resolved. ‘We are very much a junior partner in a huge department,’ he said, adding that the marine sector is on the coat-tails of the Agriculture Department. ‘We will never get the representation that we require,’ he stated.
John Lynch, chairman of the Irish South and East Fish Producers Organisation, said the loss of €42million has been ‘gifted’ to the UK.
‘The losses due to Brexit will ensure a large portion of the
Irish fishing fleet will be unviable for the future and these figures do not include the negative effects of these losses on all fishing-related ancillary industries,’ he added.
Pádraig Mac Lochlainn, Sinn Féin TD for Donegal, said it is estimated Donegal’s fishing industry will suffer 400 job losses. He added that the effect on an industry that is already struggling to survive will leave it ‘completely unsustainable’.
‘They [fishermen] are looking for a fair allocation of the fish in our own exclusive economic zone,,’ he added.
‘This is a serious crisis. As [fishing] was the last item on the [Brexit] agenda, there was a rush to get the deal over the line, and our fishermen were sacrificed and we took a disproportionate hit. This is a profound injustice.’
Mr McConalogue added that Ireland will see a greater impact compared with other EU member states.
Independent TD for Donegal Thomas Pringle said: ‘This is a very serious situation for the fishing industry and it’s debatable how it can survive.’
‘Completely unsustainable’