Irish sea prawn fishery to reopen after 'divisive' talks

The Irish sea prawn fishery is to re-open immediately, after three days of negotiations at EU level.

Minister for the Marine Simon Coveney said 141,000 tonnes of open sea fish and tuna quotas and 36,000 tonnes of whitefish were also secured at the "difficult and divisive" talks.

The Minister said the total value of next year's fishing opportunities will reach a record level of morethan €250m.

Simon Coveney said one of the immediate benefits would be the reopening of the Irish Sea to prawn fishing.

"The result for Ireland is very positive, with a significant increase in a lot of key commercial stocks for Ireland, which will mean that fishermen can look forward to a good year next year," he said.

"We've also been very responsible in terms of stocks that are in trouble, to try to protect those stocks (from over-fishing)."