‘300 fishing jobs in danger’ due to reductions in some catch quotas
However, Fisheries Minister Simon Coveney defended the deal he managed to secure, saying the value of fish would be worth €4m, bringing the total for the industry to €260m.
The South will be the worst affected as fishermen will be hit by cuts to both their main income sources — prawns and the mixed fisheries of haddock, cod, and whiting.
Eibhlin O’Sullivan of the Irish South and West Fish Producers said the same boats catch both, diversifying from one to the other.
Mr Coveney insisted the package was a good overall outcome given the serious cuts proposed by the European Commission.
“Negotiations this year were extremely difficult but important increases have been secured in specific stocks,” he said.
Many of the reforms negotiated under Ireland’s presidency of the EU with Mr Coveney in the lead have been introduced, creating more limits as well as a 10-fold increase in the amount of mackerel being caught by Iceland and the Faroe Islands.
The haddock catch in the Celtic Sea will be cut by a third while whiting and cod catches will be cut by 22%. The original proposal was to reduce haddock quota by 75%.
The quota for whiting was provisional and will be reviewed in the new year, when it may be increased.
The commission had proposed a 24% reduction in prawns caught off the Irish Sea and off the South and West coasts. This has instead been set at a 9% reduction.
“This reflects a more balanced recognition of the scientific concerns about the state of stock in certain areas,” said Mr Coveney.
There has been a 36% increase in blue whiting quota for the North-West, but Sean O’Donoghue of the Killybegs Fishermen’s Organisation said this is just a provisional quota of 18,000 tonnes and they expect to get at least another 10,000 tonnes in the new year.
Ireland got an increase of 13% in the mackerel quota but hopes to see this increase following a meeting on Jan 15 with the EU, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, and Norway.
The industry was delighted with the 55% increase, equivalent to 32,000 extra tonnes, in the boarfish fishery off the South-West, for which they commissioned and paid for the research. Currently, the species is being used mainly for fish food but the industry believes it has potential for human consumption.
Monkfish quota is increased by 15% for the South and West; albacore tuna quota has increased 14% for the summer fishery off the South-West; megrim quota for the North-West is up by 20%; herring in the Celtic Sea has had a quota increase of 30%; and there is a 49% increase in the hake quota.
