FG seeks greater compensation for fishermen

A SUBMISSION arguing for greater compensation for salmon draft-net fishermen will be handed to EU Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg by Fine Gael’s John Deasy and party MEP Simon Coveney in Strasbourg on Tuesday.

Their move follows a meeting Mr Deasy had with Mr Borg in Italy last month. The Waterford TD chairs the Oireachtas Committee on European Affairs which drafted the submission arguing that the compensation scheme of €25 million recommended by an expert group was too low.

That group investigated the future of the salmon industry in the light of plummeting stock figures and recommended to Communications and Marine Minister Noel Dempsey that there should be compulsory cessation of all draft-net fishing.

In addition to direct compensation of €25m, it said €5m should be made available to small fishing communities most affected by decommissioning of nets.

Mr Deasy and Mr Coveney will argue that this compensation could be as little as €2,000 for many fishermen. They are expected to ask Mr Borg to investigate if there is any EU budgetary resource that could supplement the Government payment.

They will argue that the package was too little compared with similar compensation schemes for wine- makers and tobacco growers who closed their operations.

Mr Deasy said yesterday that he was particularly concerned about the unequal treatment of Ireland’s inshore fishermen who would receive no EU compensation for being obliged to abandon their livelihoods.

“EU funds have been made available in the past to discourage certain types of fishing, to take land out of production or to reduce output to discourage surpluses,” he said.

“A lot of fishermen have come to me and said that when the tagging system was introduced, they were told that the reduced quotas would have no effect on future compensation packages.

“However, that’s how it has turned out to be. In my opinion, they have been treated in an unjust and unfair manner with this inadequate compensation scheme,” he added.