Port investment ‘protecting fishing jobs’

FISHERMEN’S livelihoods are being put ahead of hard commercial realities and investment in our ports is geared more towards protecting “unsustainable” fishing jobs than developing our commercial shipping industry, a port boss claims.

Almost all government investment along our coastline is helping vessels and crews in the fisheries sector, one which is generally recognised as being unsustainable at the sort of level we have traditionally seen in this country, Port of Waterford Chairman, Ben Gavin, says.

As the Irish Ports Association national conference gets underway in Waterford today, Mr Gavin says responsibility for the nation’s ports should be transferred from the Department of the Marine to the Department of Transport in recognition of the significant economic contribution they make.

“I make no criticism of the current regime but I do wonder just how logical the links are that see commercial ports required to operate as real-world businesses yet be administered in tandem with the heavily subsidised fisheries sector that makes a vastly lesser economic contribution.

“If Irish ports are to continue facilitating almost all of the country’s overseas trade and cater for future capacity needs, then we need to work towards a clear set of priorities and there needs to be much greater private sector involvement,” Mr Gavin added.

“The economic value of our ports is borne out by figures showing that in 2004 alone, this sector handled an estimated throughput of goods worth over €120 billion.”

There may also be a role for the Department of Enterprise, Trade & Employment to play in steering the future direction of our ports given their economic importance and the central part that the location of ports plays in determining where certain mobile investments are made.

“A series of small-scale token investments every 20 miles or so around the coastline makes little or no sense when what is needed are a small number of large-scale, self-sufficient and viable ports at key locations that are accessed through a world-class network of roads and railways,” Mr Gavin concluded.

It’s high time that fishermen struggling to make ends meet got some money for the industry and nobody should begrudge them it, according to the South East Fish Producers Organisation Chairman and CEO, Michael Walsh.

“How can someone come along and begrudge an industry which saw no financial investment from 1980 to 1999.

“The bit we’re even getting now won’t even bring us up to where we should have been years ago. We are still a long way from where we should be,” Mr Walsh said.