Sinn Féin Spokesperson on Fisheries and the Marine, Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn has called on the Minister for the Marine and the government to urgently engage with their European counterparts to secure a reasonable share of the of the global bluefin quota set by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT).
Teachta Mac Lochlainn said:
“There is growing outrage in Ireland’s coastal communities at the spectacle of a flourishing bluefin tuna fishery in Irish waters feeding on spawning stock of mackerel, horse mackerel (scad), herring, hake, sprat, cod and other species. They are being fattened up in our waters, only to be caught by foreign vessels, making a fortune of money that should be enriching our fishers.
I have recently raised this issue with the Minister for the Marine, Charlie McConalogue and he has confirmed that Ireland does not have a bluefin tuna quota and that the only way to secure one is to obtain a share of the overall EU quota”.
“The EU share of the global bluefin quota, negotiated under the ICCAT has increased by a massive 73% since 2016 from 11,200 tons to 19,360 tons this year, yet the Irish government didn’t secure one single ton of this for the Irish fishing industry. This is a shocking failure by the Irish governments of recent years. To add insult to injury, we are only allowed a catch and release scheme since last year.
The excuse heretofore has been that this quota has been allocated under each country’s track record in this fishery. Irish governments have allowed this nonsense to continue without asserting what would normally be our rights as a coastal state in accordance with the Convention on the Law of the Sea.
I am calling on the Minister and the government to listen to the outrage in our coastal communities about this issue and to urgently assert our rights in this matter”.
It’s a discrace that we have to put them back for others to keep and make a fortune on them. Every island in the world trives on fish from their waters why not us. We must be a laughing stock. 😔😔
DISGUSTING
What in under God sort of Government have we in Ireland. It was bad enough that they sacraficed our fishing industry for farming in the 70s. It looks like haven’t learned a thing or worse still don’t care. Irish waters have the most lucrative fishing stocks of bluefin tuna, which retail at over 1 million euro each a fish. The EU have increased their global quotas by 73% since 2016 and what did we get…. Nothing…. What can we see… Huge fleets of non Irish boats plundering stocks off our coast, behind Owey Island Donegal and many others. We can’t let our ministers get away with this reckless behaviour, it’s time to put pressure on them, to make them accountable or else show them the door (at the next elections)