‘Fishing jobs under threat from over-fishing by Iceland and Faroes’

FISHING jobs in the west of Ireland are under threat from irresponsible and damaging over-fishing of mackerel by Iceland and the Faroe Islands, Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney has warned.

In a motion to be debated by European Agriculture Ministers at an EU Fisheries Council meeting today in Brussels, Minister Coveney is calling for strong sanctions to defend Irish interests in the common mackerel fish stock in Irish, Norwegian and European waters.

Minister Coveney said: “The time for inaction is over and there is an immediate need, supported by member states for legislation to be adopted this autumn. If left unchecked, this level of fishing by Iceland and Faroes will have a detrimental impact on the health of the mackerel stock which is, economically, Ireland’s most important fishing resource.