The Irish Fish Processors and Exporters Association (IFPEA) fully supports Minister Charlie McConalogue’s call that more EU Quota is landed into EU Ports especially Irish Ports.
The Minister speaking after the recent Fisheries Council Meeting in Luxembourg stated there is an economic
opportunity to strengthen the link between EU fleets and EU processors and Ireland was centrally
located to directly benefit from such an economic link.
In recent times; far too much of the EU quotas is finding its way outside of the EU and directly going
into third countries for value add and processing, and this is effectively reducing the overall direct
benefit and failing to maximise the true value potential to the catching sector, fish processing sector, our retail
sectors and fish markets across the European Union and especially the case here in Ireland.
Strong domestic market demands indicate we are under attracting supply from the EU quota
including Irish quota, and this leads to a reliance on imports when creditable alternatives exist.
Notwithstanding the perpetual argument that our quota shares are excessively low, more can still be
done with the existing quota opportunities we have at present. Recently published economic data
indicates our fish exports are declining and we are losing out in our global market presence, by
creating an economic link the Minister certainly would reverse that recent trend, leading to
increased opportunity and activities across our coastal communities.
The Irish fish processing sector cannot survive without the close collaboration and full support of the
catching sector, it is in everyone’s interests that all of the fishing industries work in the overall Irish
interests by maximising our true potential for all our fish products, and having a robust and resilient
fish processing sector is key to the future of all our sectors. Over reliance on third countries outside
of the EU is short termism in the extreme and is not in the long-term interests of the survival of the
Irish fishing industries, we need to land EU quota into the EU and Ireland needs to be part of this
drive and lead out on this initiative as identified by our Minister.
Minister Charlie Mc Conalogue has recently secured a re-evaluation of the effectiveness of the
Common Fishery Policy post TCA/Brexit, which must assess the impacts of the loss of Irish quota due
the TCA and Brexit quota transfers. Developing an economic link as part of that appraisal is both
strategically smart and economically beneficial for the onshore fish processing sector right across the
EU but particularly here in Ireland and as such must be support completely from the outset stated
Brendan Byrne CEO of the IFPEA.
Recent Comments