‘WE’D LOSE HALF OF WHERE WE FISH AND OUR WATERS WILL BE DELUGED BY EU BOATS’
THE Irish fishing industry is bracing itself for choppy waters as the prospect of a nodeal Brexit threatens to cause grave problems.
Forecasted long tailbacks at ports have led to fears of fish rotting on lorries among those in the industry, as free movement of goods through Britain comes to an abrupt halt on March 29.
Fisherman Alan O’Neill, 35, runs the family fishing business, which has been in operation for 40 years, alongside his father.
They sail out of Castletownbere, Co. Cork, and employ 10 staff. Their two boats, the Sparkling Star and the Eternal Dawn, fish for mackerel, herring, horse mackerel and whitefish.
The majority of their fish is landed in Ireland and processed in Killybegs, but the vast majority of it – some 95% – is exported to mainland Europe, Africa and Japan. The increasing prospect of a no-deal Brexit has left Mr O’Neill and many others in the sector concerned about the viability of the industry in Ireland.
‘A hard, no-deal Brexit to me as a fisherman in rural Ireland is basically a further nail in the coffin of an already struggling industry,’ Mr O’Neill told the Irish Mail on Sunday.
‘The penny hasn’t dropped yet as to the actual chaos that’s going to happen. On the first of April [two days after the Brexit deadline], there’ll be no jokes for the Irish fishing industry as a whole.’ Mr O’Neill is concerned about his product being held up by long delays at ports entering mainland Europe from the UK.
‘There’ll be fish rotting in trucks before they get to their destination. Vessels could be at sea for a week and then they’re transported for two or three days. Shelf life would be pretty good on them, but if you’ve a vessel at sea for a week, it takes two to three days to get the product to Spain.
‘I don’t know how long the shelf life is in Spain, but it’s going to be chaos.’
He fears that there will be no young people coming into the industry: ‘It’s very hard for us to entice young people into an industry. How can you do it? We’re staring down the barrel of a gun.
‘And with a no-deal Brexit, you’re going to have boats tied at the quay wall.’
Earlier this week, the European Commission tabled two contingency proposals to help mitigate against a no-deal scenario.
The first would compensate trawlers booted out of UK waters, while the second would see the current relationship between the UK and EU – in
relation to access to waters – being extended until the end of 2019. Patrick Murphy, chief executive of Irish South and West Fish Producers Organisation, voiced his concerns about the realities of a no-deal Brexit and the strain it will place on Irish waters, with half of the area fished by Irish fishermen lost overnight.
‘We share our fishing grounds with the UK – they’re the only ones we have access to traditionally. Brexit means we lose half of where we fish. What happens then is the 400 boats that are fishing inside of the UK waters, including our own, have to go somewhere else. They travel to fishing grounds where fish are, so we’re on the continental shelf, so where do you think they’re going to go?
‘I’m deadly afraid where they’ll come is into Irish water. Not only will it affect the catch rates of fish, it could destroy the stocks of Europe because Ireland is the nursery grounds of Europe.
‘This is really catastrophic for the fishing industry – no other industry is going to be affected the same way.’
Earlier, Independent TD for Cork South West, Michael Collins, said in the Dáil that fishermen had lost faith in the political establishment.
‘These hardworking men across the country have given blood, sweat and tears to their profession and have seen their every right eroded by successive governments year after year, decade after decade,’ he said.
In response, the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Simon Coveney, insisted: ‘Fishing has taken on a hugely important part of the Brexit negotiations.’