Fishermen call for proper dialogue on environmental strategies

EUROPEAN fishermen need to be invited into a meaningful debate on enhanced environmental strategies rather than being hit with a populist blanket ban on discards, according to the Federation of Irish Fishermen (FIF).

Reacting to EU Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki’s recent blanket ban on discards, FIF chairman Sean O’Donoghue said dialogue is always the better option.

He said the ongoing Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) review affords a far better opportunity to work proactively with industry stakeholders, the Commission, the European Parliament and member states to progressively reduce discards, fishery by fishery and to work towards their eventual elimination.

He said that dialogue, unlike the blanket discards ban, will deliver a sustainable, economically viable and ecologically friendly fishing industry for the future.

Sean O’Donoghue said: “FIF is fully supportive of reducing the wasteful practice of discards and has been at the forefront in putting forward workable solutions to address this complex issue. It may be populist to call for a blanket ban, but without a workable means to achieve this it will only make a bad situation even worse.

“I am fully aware of the importance of tackling the discards issue and the need to find workable solutions. This is a multi-faceted, complex issue that requires a suite of solutions. Using the soundbite of banning discards may be populist but does not address the issue.”

The FIF chairman said that Commissioner Damanaki’s recent proposals concentrating on landing all discards fails to address the real issue of avoiding catching discards in the first place.