Freezer trawlers are catching some of the best managed stocks in EU

I am writing to you as president of the Pelagic Freezer-trawler Association, representing nine EU fishing companies that operate 19 EU flagged pelagic freezer-trawlers. One of these vessels is the Margiris, currently under heavy fire in some Irish media.

The campaign against our fishing vessels, calling for Minister Simon Coveney to ‘ban these super-trawlers from Irish waters’, is ill-informed and overly sensational.

The fact is that our vessels are part of the larger EU pelagic fleet that consists of trawlers flagged in Ireland, UK, Denmark, Sweden, France, the Netherlands, Lithuania and Germany.