Positive outlook for our fishing waters
THIS week saw a breakthrough agreement reached by EU fisheries ministers on ending the discarding of dead fish at sea. This is the most significant outcome at an EU Fisheries Council in more than a decade and will fundamentally change how fishermen operate at sea. Up to now, the Common Fisheries Policy forced fishermen to discard juvenile and mature fish that exceeded quota.
Fishermen and environmental groups are in agreement the discarding of dead fish at sea is not good for fishermen or for fish stocks. Fishermen often involuntarily end up catching juvenile fish or fish of a species for which they do not have quota and are then forced to throw the unwanted fish back into sea, dead. This has an obvious negative impact on the sustainability of stocks for the future, damaging both fishermen’s livelihoods and the environment.
The UN suggests the north east Atlantic has the second highest discards level in the world, estimated to be 1.3m tonnes annually. Most of these discards are attributed to EU fishermen carried out under the EU Common Fisheries Policy.
Since I took up office as Marine Minister, I was determined to find a real and effective solution that would end the discarding of fish at sea. I was conscious that any solution must be practical for fishermen and I was very concerned the proposal of Maria Damanaki, commissioner for fisheries, involving a simple immediate ban on discarding was too simplistic. After listening to fishermen’s concerns, I sent a proposal last week to all fisheries ministers in the EU and to Ms Damanaki involving three critical dimensions for a new discards policy. These are:
* A phasing in period;
* Additional quota to cover the additional landings involved;
* And measures that will stop the catching of juvenile fish.
I discussed this approach with fishing industry representatives last week and will meet them again on Monday. There were challenging negotiations over 20 hours. It became clear at the early stages the proposals I had circulated would be the basis for the compromise agreement. I worked with fellow ministers with divergent positions from those seeking to apply an immediate, simple ban like the Swedish minister to those, like the French minister, who pushed for a delay until 2020. The compromise reached is practical and has the following elements:
* A phased introduction of ending discard starting on Jan 1, 2015 and applying to all species by 2018 for all whitefish stocks in our waters. An end to discarding of herring and mackerel by 2014.
* Ms Damanaki agreed fishermen should not be disadvantaged as a result of landing all their catches and accepted additional quota must be available to them.
* Finally, measures to avoid catching juvenile fish are to be introduced for each of the sea areas at regional level.
This agreement will not only have a positive environmental effect; it will also support the future of the industry by replenishing stocks. For the first time, I believe we have found a practical and workable solution.
Fishermen will move towards introducing measures such as using different fishing gear or closing of fishing areas where juvenile stocks are plentiful to avoid catching small fish. As these measures are introduced, the number of juvenile fish that are caught will reduce and quotas will better match the fish being caught and landed. This will allow juvenile fish to mature, fish stocks generally will improve and Irish fishermen will have larger quotas. I want to ensure the new policy does not make it profitable to land juvenile fish and we need to work further on this aspect.
This council agreed position will be negotiated with the EU parliament during the first half of 2013. There is a long way to go before the Common Fisheries Policy is agreed but the policy on discards will undoubtedly pave the way for a new approach to fishing in Irish waters. This will ensure our coastal communities will have a vibrant future.
* Simon Coveney is the minister for agriculture, marine and food.
