Urgent financial aid package and radical reset needed to save the Irish fishing industry – Pádraig Mac Lochlainn TD
Sinn Féin spokesperson on Fisheries and the Marine, Pádraig Mac Lochlainn TD, has called on the Irish Government to enter into negotiations with the European Commission on an urgent financial aid package for the Irish fishing and seafood industry following confirmation of the anticipated devastating cuts of 70% to the mackerel quota as well as severe cuts to the blue whiting and boarfish quota.
Deputy Mac Lochlainn also called for a radical reset of the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy.
Teachta Mac Lochlainn said:
“Mackerel is a precious resource to Irish fishing communities. It is a migratory species and a shared fishery with other countries who have coasts on the north Atlantic Ocean. The European Commission has known for years about the reckless overfishing of mackerel by fishing fleets based in Norway, the Faroes, and Iceland with Russia and the UK also complicit in this practice. Yet they have just tut-tutted every year with no repercussions for the offending ‘third country’ states outside the EU.
“It’s time for hard questions: Who are the European Union based fishing corporations with investments in the fishing fleets in these ‘third countries’ that benefit most from this arrangement? Have they influenced the European Commission to turn a blind eye? Who are the European Union based fishing corporations who benefit from the reciprocal access to the cod in Norwegian waters?
“And will this be confronted and brought to an end, once and for all?
“The Common Fisheries Policy has no credibility if those who follow the science, play by the rules and act responsibly are punished while reckless and greedy players are rewarded and enriched.
“Even if all of this is ended tomorrow, our industry is going to need a financial rescue package from our government for the next number of years. The European Union must substantially contribute to this, considering their utter failure to protect these stocks; a failure that has plunged our Irish fishing and seafood industry into an even greater existential crisis than Brexit and the Trade and Cooperation Agreement fiasco.”
