Fishing industry under threat
CONFLICTING regulations in the European Union and Ireland are having a detrimental effect on Irish fishermen, Independent Deputy Michael Healy-Rae told the Dáil.
“People with a quota of 119 tonnes have seen that limit decreased to 24 tonnes,” he said. “People with a bigger boat and a quota of 310 tonnes have seen that limit decreased to 70 tonnes. One can imagine the impact this will have on people who might have to go as far away as Scotland or down to Spain in trying to get a catch. They work in very tough conditions, with a high cost for fuel, but they have seen their tonnage reduced dramatically.”
In December 2017, he said the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine introduced pilot quota balancing, which would come into effect on 1 January 2018. “This scheme introduced penalties for fishermen if they brought in fish in excess of their allocated quota,” he said. “Not only would the excess be deducted from their quota but a multiplying factor would be used to penalise them even further. Under EU regulations, no disregarding is allowed, but under the new quota balancing introduced, the only way to land the exact quota allocated is to disregard the excess fish at sea. Fishermen agree that to preserve fish stocks, measures need to be taken and quota balancing is necessary, but the scheme needs to be amended.”
In reply, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said this year is the first full year of the implementation of the discards ban under the Common Fisheries Policy under which the practice of discarding juvenile fish at sea will end.” It is a very significant sustainability measure that will result in benefits to the marine environment and fishermen alike - securing stocks into the future,” he said. “The application of the landing obligation or discards ban for all Irish stocks in 2019 coupled with a move towards fishing at maximum sustainable yield levels are very positive developments for fishermen and the broader goal of sustainability.”
To implement the landing obligation, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine announced a quota balancing policy at the end of 2017, he said. This policy applies especially to mackerel. The policy was introduced to ensure equitable opportunities for fishermen who stay within the catch limits where others exceed them. “Preliminary data provided for mackerel vessels for 2018 landings indicated that some vessel landings were in excess of their catch limit,” he said. “It was agreed that initial 2019 allocations would be restricted to a lower level to allow for quota balancing so, essentially, those who overfished in 2018 have their allocation reduced in 2019, which is only fair.” AN update on the new guidelines for wind farm development was sought from Planning Minister, Eoghan Murphy in the Dáil by Fianna Fáil Deputy John Brassil. “He gave me a commitment they would be published for public consultation early in the New Year,” he said. “I consider that it is now early in the New Year and ask whether the Minister can give me a definitive date on which they will go to public consultation.”
In response, Minister Murphy said he reason for the delay was because the World Health Organization ( WHO) revised the noise aspects of the guidelines last year. “As a result, the EU decided to implement them in a directive that was issued only in October of last year and we thought it prudent to put them into the guidelines that we were putting out to public consultation,” he said. “The public consultation will now happen this year. It will happen in the next couple of weeks and last for a short enough period. We should have those guidelines in force by the end of the first half of this year.” THE need to provide an adequate transport service for people in rural Ireland was raised in the Dáil by Independent Deputy Danny Healy-Rae. Since the passage of the Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill, he said the people of rural Ireland throughout the country are angry and frustrated and, as a result, Ministers are complaining about Garda checkpoints.