Fishermen fear end for white fish trawlers

The Northern Ireland fishing fleet could be decimated this week when European ministers meet to discuss fishing quotas for next year.

Fishermen in the North fear fishing for cod, haddock and other white fish could be a thing of the past unless the EU relaxes its plans.

Local people going to the fish and chip shop would end up buying a fish supper in which the fish came from as far afield as Russia, they warn.

Dick James, chief executive of the Northern Ireland Fish Producers Organisation, is attending the Brussels meeting opening on Monday.

He warned that if Europe gets its way, the last remaining 20 white fish trawlers in Northern Ireland would have to be scrapped.

“It would decimate us, but I have some hope they will stop short of that and give us a licence to survive.”

Ian Pearson, the Northern Ireland minister responsible for Agriculture and Fisheries, is attending the crunch Brussels meetings to fight the corner of local fishermen.

The meetings are due to conclude with agreement by Thursday. But Mr James said he was going to Brussels with an open air ticket .

“There is no way it will be sorted even by Saturday. If it means spending Christmas in Brussels so be it.”

European proposals are for an 80% cut in fishing days – from an average of 200 a year to 40. But Mr James said that would make them unable to continue.

Not only is the white fish fleet under threat, but also the 100 prawn boats which make up some 50% of the Northern Ireland fleet.

Cod conservation measures would mean that the nets they use to catch prawn would have to have such large mesh to let cod through that they would get no prawn.

Fishermen contest EU scientists evidence that cod stocks are “on the edge of collapse”.

Northern Ireland fishermen insist that the EU has got it all wrong when it comes to a shortage of fish, they say they have in many cases the shoals have just moved – and put it all down to global warming.

Fish stocks have been redistributed by climate change and warm water flows, they say.

“There has been a huge upsurge of cod south of us in the Bay of Biscay, but almost none in the Irish Sea.

“Equally the Irish Sea is swimming with haddock, but we can’t go for them because of the block on cod fishing,” said Mr James.

Nevertheless the European Commission is proposing “significant cuts” in catches for next year for cod, haddock and whiting in EU waters.

It says they must be agreed , and accompanied by a system to control fishing, if a moratorium for a number of cod stocks is to be averted.

Speaking ahead of the Brussels meeting, Franz Fischler, EU Commissioner responsible for Agriculture, Rural Development and Fisheries, gave a blunt warning.

“The choice facing us is stark but straightforward; either we do our best to secure the future of our fishing sector by taking measures that will undeniably impose pain in the short term – or we postpone them once again until, inevitably, one fish stock after another collapses with all the attendant consequences for the sector,” he said.