Fishermen launch campaign to save industry

Fishing groups were meeting in Dublin today to launch a campaign to safeguard the future of the industry.

It comes after Irish fleets were ordered to stop catching four species of whitefish on the grounds that quotas have been reached.

Despite the ban, fishing vessels from other EU countries, which have much larger quotas than Ireland, will still be allowed to fish for the species in Irish waters.

The order issued yesterday by the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources will apply from tomorrow, stopping all fishing for monkfish, prawns, megrims and white pollack.

At today’s presentation in Dublin, fishing groups were expressing concern at the share of fish Irish fleets are allowed to catch in home waters.

They were outlining their case ahead of the EU summit in Copenhagen and next week’s EU fisheries council in Brussels.