Call for pollock fishers to be compensated for temporary ban

FISHERMEN who are affected by a recent ban on pollock fishing should be compensated for their loss of earnings, according to Cllr Breandán Fitzgerald who has also questioned the scientific basis of the ban.

At the monthly meeting of Kerry Council, held on Monday, Breandán said that whenever temporary closures of fisheries take place fishermen should be given quotas to fish for different species of equal commercial value. If this is not possible then they should be compensated for the value of the catches they are being denied.

“Every other sector that has their livelihoods curtailed are compensated adequately and our fishermen need to be compensated or given alternatives to fish if temporary bans are put in place,” Breandán told the council meeting.

“These temporary closures must also be based on data from Ireland and not rely on data from other countries. If you are going to stop someone’s livelihood then you must make sure that the data it’s based on is correct and relevant,” he said, adding that hook and line pollock fishing from small boats is “one of the most sustainable types of fishing”.

Breandán put forward a motion at the meeting asking Kerry County Council “to call on the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to compensate fishers when temporary closures on fishing takes place such as the pollock fishery and that these closures be based on data from Ireland”. The motion was passed by a vote at the council meeting.

At the same meeting Breandán asked council officials to seek ministerial approval for “average speed zones for all our villages and places where speeding has been highlighted by local communities”.

Council officials said average speed zones only work on stretches of motorway that don’t have entry or exit points and wouldn’t be suitable in villages or the roads of West Kerry generally. However, councillors at the meeting agreed with Breandán that speed reduction measures are needed and passed his proposal.