Ireland rejects EU plans on fishing rights and waste

IRELAND has rejected EU plans to lease fishing rights to trawler owners and impose a ban on fishermen dumping fish at sea.

Instead Marine Minister Simon Coveney is putting forward alternative proposals, some with the help of France, on how to save the fishing industry and reverse dwindling fish stocks. He said he is winning support from Germany.

The meeting in Brussels was the first time that the Commission’s plan for a new Common Fisheries Policy — with a budget of €6.7 billion post 2013 — was discussed by the member states. The reaction was very mixed.