Trawler decommissioning scheme 'needs to be better funded'

Adrian Cavanagh of Cavanagh Nets Ltd at the Irish Skipper Expo 2023 in the UL Arena, Limerick. Expo sponsors Bord Iascaigh Mhara issued a report which concluded Irish seafood has one of the lowest carbon footprints of any produce in Ireland. Pictures: Julien Behal

Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue needs to put additional funding into the State’s decommissioning scheme for fishing trawlers to make it viable, industry representatives have said.

Speaking at this year’s Irish Skipper Expo, Irish South and West Fish Producers Organisation CEO Patrick Murphy said “if the minister wants to make the scheme work, he needs to put more money into it.

His comments follow the news that the owners of just 20 fishing boats had so far accepted State offers to decommission. The scheme was originally capped at €60m, before Mr McConalogue later increased that to €75m. However, Mr Murphy said the funding is inadequate.

“Europe was originally told the scheme could cost €96m but he went for a smaller amount. 

We don’t believe it would have to cost as much as €96m but in reality, he needs to put around another €10m-€15m into it to make it work.

On Thursday, Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM) revealed that less than half of boat owners offered decommissioning have accepted.

“Some 57 letters of offer have been issued with total funding of €75m To date 20 owners have accepted,” BIM said. The closing date for boat owners to accept offers is March 2.

The decommissioning scheme has proved unpopular as boat owners accepted for decommissioning will only get a proportion of the total value of their boats back.

In addition, instead of being able to sell on their vessels, they will have to be destroyed.

The scheme was designed to help mitigate against the Brexit-related losses Irish fishermen sustained and is funded by €1bn Ireland received from the EU’s Brexit Adjustment Reserve (BAR) fund.

The post-Brexit EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) led to the transfer of a substantial amount of EU fishing quotas to the UK.

Ireland’s losses from Brexit will amount to around €43m a year by 2026 as part of a five-year EU-UK post-Brexit quota “adjustment” phase — the biggest single loss for any country, leading to repeated calls for equitable burden sharing among all member states.

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Meanwhile, BIM has issued its report on a two-year study into the industry’s carbon footprint, which concluded Irish seafood has one of the lowest carbon footprints of any produce in Ireland. 

The State agency, which supports development of the seafood sector and sponsors the Skipper Expo, found carbon emissions for the sector are less than 2% of those produced in other food sectors.

Farmed mussels, oysters, and wild caught mackerel in particular have been shown to have very low carbon emissions.

Read More about Ireland's fishing crisis