EU must share burden of Donegal fishermen with 400 jobs at stake; calls for fairer renegotiation of Common Fisheries Policy to avoid injustice

Sinn Féin T.D. Pádraig Mac Lochlainn has called for a renegotiation of the European Union Common Fisheries Policy to transfer mackerel quota from other coastal states to the Irish fleet.

“We have the statements from producer organisations and some of the leaders of our fishing industry in Ireland and they make for stark reading in terms of the impact felt.

“I said to the Minister that in his home county of Donegal the industry has estimated that there could be a hit of up to 400 job loses. In an industry that was already struggling to survive, the amount of fish we have lost is completely unsustainable. The message from people in the industry is that they are not looking for financial compensation.

“They are looking for a fair allocation of the fish in our exclusive economic zone and in other waters under the jurisdiction of the CFP and, indeed, in waters belonging to the UK, which we are now a trading partner with,” he said, during a recent debate in Dáil Éireann.

Donegal fishermen have been calling for mackerel quota to be transferred to Ireland to compensate for the loss of fish taken in UK waters.

Deputy Mac Lochlainn said: “I was speaking to the Foyle Fishermen’s Co-operative Society in Donegal...and the impact of this on them is up to one third of their income. They have just invested €3 million in their new building on the harbourside in Greencastle. The repayments on that will not be sustainable if they are to lose one third of their income. That is the scale of the immediate crisis.”

Donegal fishermen want mackerel quota from other EU coastal states to compensate for heavy burden of ‘very poor deal’The Irish fisheries minister Charlie McConalogue said that as ‘a representative of Donegal, the county most affected by fisheries’ that he was ‘very much aware of the absolute importance of fisheries.’

He revealed how the British aggressively targeted mackerel and prawn stocks during the TCA negotiations. “As we know, throughout the negotiations the British were looking to take back 100% of the fish caught in their waters.

“The ultimate outcome was that 25% of the fish caught by the EU fleet in their waters would be reallocated and that, in return, mutual reciprocal access for the EU fleet to fish in UK waters would continue.

“Many of the stock desired by British fishermen and Scottish fishermen are also desired by us. There are many valuable species, but mackerel and prawn are two of the most important and invaluable species for our fleet. They were the two that the British Government were really going after in the negotiations. We fought tooth and nail to ensure that the line was kept and that we would protect our fishing industry. Unfortunately, in order to achieve a deal, a reallocation of 25% was involved, and we bear the weight of that more disproportionately than other member states,” he said.

Greencastle and Rathmullan to open for ‘third country’ landings next month, fisheries minister Charlie McConalogue confirmsDeputy Mac Lochlainn said the CFP needs to be reviewed to get ‘a fair deal and a fair share of the fish in Irish waters for Irish fishers.’

“What has happened is that because it was the last item on the agenda there was a rush to get the deal over the line and our fishermen were sacrificed and they took a disproportionate hit. This is a profound injustice,” he said.

The minister said the government had ‘very clearly pushed the principle of burden sharing and fair burden sharing in the outcome of the agreement’ but ‘the outcome is not a fair reflection of burden sharing.’

“It impacts more on our fisheries sector and that is something I have taken up, very strongly, with the Commission.

“On Tuesday morning I met with the task force chair, Michael Barnier, and the fisheries Commissioner, Virginijus Sinkevicius, and made it very clear that we were not at all happy about the additional burden we are taking. I will be taking every opportunity to try to address that and across Government, that will be a key priority,” said Mr. McConalogue.

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