EU provides €600m for Irish fishermen
The fishermen’s battle will now move to the Government, which they want to see match the funding.
Many Irish fishermen claim however, the move comes too little, too late for them. The package is designed to help those who have been hardest hit by a doubling of fuel prices while the price of fish is falling.
But fishermen are worried that with cutbacks in the Irish budget, the Department of the Marine will not be willing to fund very much.
The package will pay up to €30,000 to cover the costs of trawlers tied up for up to three months; extra money towards fuel-saving equipment; funding to allow people in the industry to retire early and retrain and lower social security contributions.
Fishermen will have to apply for the funding.
The Marine Commission says it will respond immediately and decide on a case by case basis on how much they will contribute, which could be up to 90%, with the rest coming from national government.
In total the emergency measures could inject an extra €2 billion into the fishing industry with €600m coming from the European Commission and the balance from national governments.
“We will be able to pledge money and give the go-ahead for projects from now on, but we will need the proposals from the member state governments that show they fit into the overall restructuring plan,” said Nathalie Charbonneau, spokeswoman for Marine Commissioner Joe Borg.
The emergency measures are designed to fit in with the overall restructuring of Europe’s fishing industry where there are too many boats chasing too few fish.
But John O’Sullivan from Castltownbere, Co Cork, said that if he got the €30,000 for tying up his boat for three months it would be no good to him. He has a bank loan of €6m and eight families depend for their livelihood on his boat that he bought in 2003.
“It’s a nightmare. I got rid of three boats and bought this new safer one but I had to wait three months for a licence from the Government to start fishing.
“I spent €250,000 on diesel that has increased from 28c a litre to 74c. I’ve been tied up since the last week of March partly because I’ve run out of quota and because it’s too expensive to operate.
“I’m depending on the bank and I don’t know how much longer I can hold out,” he said.
Johnny Orphan had a similar story, having bought a boat for €4.3m last year.
But with diesel accounting for 60% of costs, both men said the only solution to their problems is to be allowed catch more fish than they can under the Irish quota, and for an end to the rule of having to throw away fish banned under current rules.
They want the quota system — which dictates how much fish each national fleet can catch — to be dumped and replaced by fishing effort — how many days a vessel can spend at sea.
The EU has already agreed to give €42m to help restructure Ireland’s white fish fleet, though it has not been fully approved by the commission yet, which is awaiting answers from the Government on State aid issues.
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