Coveney presses EU on ‘untenable’ fishing by Iceland and Faroe Islands

UNTENABLE mackerel fishing by Iceland and the Faroe Islands must be resisted, Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney told European Maritime Affairs Commissioner Maria Damanaki at a special meeting in Luxembourg.

Commissioner Damanaki said monitoring the discarding of fish was high on her agenda for the imminent reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), but she also took on board Irish concerns about the depletion threat to mackerel stocks, plus Minister Coveney’s defence of the existing whitefish catch quota in Irish waters.

Minister Coveney said: “The actions of Iceland and the Faroe Islands pose a serious threat to the mackerel stock, which is very important to Ireland. I pressed the commissioner to introduce trade sanctions and agree a long term management framework for mackerel.”

Minister Coveney sought the meeting with the commissioner to discuss the planned reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) and other topical issues on the fisheries horizon at present. Minister Coveney invited Commissioner Damanaki to Ireland to meet the Irish fishing industry in coastal communities.

The minister set out key priority issues for Ireland in the CFP reform.

A major priority is the retention of the Hague Preferences, agreed by heads of state in 1976 by way of the Hague Resolution, under which Ireland receives additional shares of quotas for the whitefish stocks around our coast.

Minister Coveney said: “Any interference that results in Ireland losing the current benefits of the Hague Preferences within the reformed CFP would be totally unacceptable to me.”

He also set out Ireland’s opposition to the mandatory privatisation of fish quotas.