Ireland seeking closed fishing areas rather than a restriction on days

IRELAND wants closed areas for fishing off the south coast to protect cod stock and not a closed fishing day regime (limiting days spent at sea) as proposed by the EU.

Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries & Food, Tony Killeen has outlined Ireland’s vision for the future of the Common Fisheries Policy at a meeting of fisheries ministers in Brussels.

The discussion by ministers marked the start of the debate on the reform of the CFP which will see the new policy in place by 2012.

Mr Killeen said that Ireland’s priority will be to have an EU fisheries policy which results in a strong, sustainable and profitable seafood industry and most importantly provides economic activity for coastal communities, as set down in the Cawley Strategy — Steering A New Course.

The minister said: “I hope that the debate on the CFP will lead to a simplified policy for all the stakeholders concerned.

“However, I will not support a policy which promotes the concentration of activity and benefits in the hands of a small number of large companies. Our aim is for a policy which maximises the development of all our coastal communities and for this reason it is vital that quotas and their management are retained under national competence and not moved to a market based mechanism.”

Mr Killeen said this is one of the main legislative priorities for the agreement in November and one which is of key importance to Ireland.

“I strongly argued that restrictive days at sea were not necessary for the Celtic Sea south and west coast fisheries,” Minister Killeen said.