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"Little for fishermen in EU
agreement"
28.10.09
Cheap Icelandic Imports
putting the squeeze on local fishermen
by Simon McGeady, Inishowen
Independent
THE Chairman of the Foyle Fishermen’s Co-Op, John
O’Kane, insists the new control agreement to prevent
the landing of illegal catches, worked out by
European fisheries ministers in Luxembourg last
week, will do little to ease the burden on
Greencastle Fishermen while the EU continued to turn
a blind eye to the problem of cheap Icelandic
imports.
The new controls include a penalty points system
whereby repeat offenders could have their fishing
licence suspended and permanently withdrawn. Member
states whose fishing fleets are persistent offenders
could also have EU funding withheld.
“Greencastle is already complying with all the
things that they are talking about in this new
agreement. Our fish is 100% legal.
“I want to see the report in detail before I can
comment on whether it will be good or bad for
Greencastle fishermen. The one thing I would say is
that if it means fines are harmonised across the EU,
we would see that as a good move,” said Mr O’Kane,
who stressed it was unacceptable that fines meted
out to Irish fishermen tended to be far in excess of
those imposed on foreign boats caught in Irish
waters.
“The Sea Fisheries and Maritime Jurisdiction Bill
2005 turned ordinary, hard working fishermen into
criminals for making the slightest mistake on a log
sheet. |
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“French or Spanish
fishermen committing offences in Irish waters are
dealt with in a small court and typically fined €500
- €1,000, a figure that amounts to a speeding fine,
but because of pressure coming from the Irish
government our boats are dealt with in a higher
court and are fined anything from €20,000 to
€30,000,” said Mr O’Kane who hoped that |
penalty harmonisation would be
the first step in the complete reformation of
fisheries legislation.
Greencastle’s fishing community, he added, ‘is
hurting’ because of downward pressure on fish prices
following the increased catches by Icelandic
vessels.
“Iceland is flooding the market at the moment. At
the stroke of a pen their government has increased
their cod quota by 25% to try and shore up the
economy after the banking crisis in that country
last year.
“Yet the quotas of Irish Fishermen are cut year and
year and we have less and less to sell. The European
Union talk about sustainability, but all they care
about is cheap food. If they really cared about
sustainability, the Commission would put the same
tariffs on Iceland’s fish sold in the EU as they do
on ours and require the same stringent checks that
our fish have to go through.”
Mr O’Kane said the situation for his members wasn’t
helped by the act that Irish processors were willing
to take the cheaper Icelandic imports ahead of fish
caught by Irish boats.
“Farmers talk about the threat to their business
from Brazilian beef, but the fishing sector is under
as big a threat from Icelandic fish.”
Should Iceland apply to join the EU, as has been
discussed, they may be required to open their waters
to fishermen from other member states. However this
would not be a boon to the Greencastle fleet,
according to Mr O’Kane.
“Even if they joined the EU and were forced to allow
fishermen from other nationalities into their
waters, Iceland is too far away for Greencastle
boats to go to fish.” |
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