Irish fishing industry suffers constant battle against the tide

THE tragedies of the past week have again underlined the inherent dangers fishermen face every time they put to sea.

It has been claimed by the hard-pressed industry that quota restrictions, high fuel costs and efforts to make the most of “windows” or calm periods in the midst of prolonged stormy weather sometimes force fishermen to take undue risks, which can have disastrous consequences.

Though the Irish fishing industry has declined greatly, it still provides employment for close to 12,000 people and generates annual revenue of more than €702 million.

However, fishermen always seem to be, literally, battling against the tide — not least because of incursions into Irish waters by large factory trawlers from Spain, Russia, and other countries and diminishing quotas.

The waters around Ireland contain some of the most productive fishing grounds in the EU. In 2004, the total catch by all fleets in the Irish exclusive zone was 700,000 tonnes of fish, valued at €500m. There are 114 vessels between 12 metres and 18 metres in length on the Irish fishing boat register.

Ireland has 10.5% of EU waters and 4.8% of the EU fish quotas.

Following two days of tough negotiations at an EU Fisheries Council meeting, in Brussels, last month, Marine Minister John Browne secured some quota increases for the Irish fishing industry, in 2007.

Landings are worth €230m to fishermen in our coastal communities each year. The increased quotas should add €20m to this figure in 2007.

Lorcan Ó Cinnéide, chairman of the Federation of Irish Fishermen, which represents 90% of fishermen, yesterday said: “We’ve too many boats and too little fish. A major review of the whole industry is required. That would include further decommissioning of the fleet, better quota management and restructuring of the Department of the Marine and BIM.”

High fuel prices also continued to be a critical issue and, while a reduction in prices was welcomed by fishermen, fuel costs were still prohibitively high. And the price of fish did not always rise accordingly, he added.

Since the late 1990s, when Ireland had an old and relatively dilapidated whitefish fleet, major investment, with government and EU funding, has transformed a significant proportion of the whitefish sector into a modern, safe and efficient fleet.

A total of 33 modern vessels have been delivered to owners in the whitefish fleet from every major fishing port in the country.

In 2005, a €45m decommissioning scheme was launched to remove older vessels from the fleet, amounting to up to 25% of the overall capacity of the whitefish sector and a significant portion of the scallop fleet.

Irish seafood exports, in 2005, amounted to 198,623 tonnes valued at €354m. These exports are exclusive of direct landings by Irish-registered fishing vessels into foreign ports.

More people are now eating fish, prompted by health promotion campaigns, and imports now account for 74% of all seafood consumption in the EU. Ireland’s seafood sector is similarly affected with imports increasing to meet market demand.

The Irish market for seafood continues to grow, with the total retail market increasing in value by 5.5% and food service market up by 11%, in 2005, according to BIM.

Meanwhile, a new industry-led research programme for critical stocks is to take place in the Irish Sea.

The programme will be carried out by fishermen, North and South, and will be supported by Irish and British scientists.