Fishermen welcome revised strategy
The strategy will see almost half of the fishing fleet being decommissioned.
It sets out a plan which the Government hopes will revitalise an industry suffering from over capacity of the fishing fleet and depletion of fish stocks.
Some €334m in public funds will be made available as well as private sector funding of €263m, to be split between sea fisheries, aquaculture, training, processing and marketing.
The new programme, entitled Steering a New Course, Strategy for a Restructured, Sustainable and Profitable Irish Seafood Industry 2007 — 2013, was launched yesterday by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, Minister for Communications, the Marine and Natural Resources Noel Dempsey and Minister of State John Browne.
The strategy is the result of a report carried out by a review group chaired by Dr Noel Cawley, who will now lead an implementation body to be formed by Mr Dempsey.
Fishing organisations have readily admitted that current fish quotas do not match the number of vessels operating in the sector. While some 10% of the white fish fleet has already been decommissioned, it is planned that a total of 45% of the fleet will be decommissioned under the strategy.
The seafood sector is responsible for 11,615 jobs in coastal communities, and the Taoiseach said the demand for seafood products meant Ireland needed to operate at the premium end of that market to ensure better returns for producers.
Spokesman for the Federation of Irish Fishermen Jason Whooley said the organisation gave it a qualified welcome and admitted that the sector needed a radical overhaul.
He said how the various elements of the plan would be implemented was absolutely critical, previous proposals had been shelved without sufficient action being taken.
“We want to see a quick decommissioning period — it is something that needs to happen this year and next year” he said, adding that the Federation would like to see exact figures for the price per tonne for fishing vessels.
Killybegs Fishermen’s Organisation chairman Martin Howley said fishermen were giving the strategy a guarded welcome and that it would be some days before they had fully considered its potential impact.
He said incentives for those looking to leave the industry were 50% better than any previous packages and conceded that the number of operational vessels needed to fall.
“There’s not enough to go around at the moment and that has been recognised by the committee,” he said.
“The scheme was implemented before but they didn’t have enough money to allow people to leave the industry but this one look like it quite possibly does.”
