By Lorna Siggins
€37.6 million drop in Irish fish landings in 2023
The Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority (SFPA) has rejected claims that it has been “spinning” information on landings into Irish ports to make it look as if Irish vessels are doing better than they actually are.
An SFPA press release on statistics for 2023 was prefaced with a summary or sub-headline stating “44,396 Vessel landings in Ireland – 95% by Irish Vessels”.
The actual data published by the SFPA shows a general downward trend into landings into Ireland by both Irish and non-Irish vessels, and an increase in landings outside Ireland.
This has been attributed by the industry in part to loss of quota and to over-regulation, which is said to be driving both Irish and other vessels to land elsewhere.
SFPA misrepresenting true figures say IS&WFPO
The specific accusation of “spin” in relation to the performance of the Irish fleet was elaborated on by Irish South and West Fish Producers’ Organisation (IS&WFPO) chief executive Patrick Murphy.
SFPA figures on landings into Irish ports by foreign vessels last year record a total of 2040 landings and a total volume of 88070 tonnes.
Irish vessel landings into Irish ports for last year show 42,356 landings with a total volume of 156,919 tonnes.
This translates into an average of 43 tonnes per landing by non-Irish vessels, and an average of 3.7 tonnes per landing by Irish boats.
“In other words , non-Irish vessels are landing 14 times more fish than Irish vessels,” Murphy says.
This trend is also reflected in 2022 figures, with an average of 52 tonnes per landing into Irish ports by non-Irish boats, and an average of 3.25 tonnes per landing by Irish boats.
For 2021, the average is almost 55 tonnes per landing by non-Irish boats, and 3.7 tonnes per average landing by Irish boats.
“How can the SFPA present a picture in its headline to its press release where it is misrepresenting the truth of its own figures,”Murphy said.
“We have the richest waters in Europe and the Marine Institute’s stockbook shows most of this fish is inside the Irish exclusive economic zone, and yet we have the smallest share by quota,”Murphy said.
“The SFPA is trying to present our own share as disproportionate to the reality, and giving the impression that we are making multiples of what we are making,”he said.
“Anyone reading down into its figures, which we presume to be accurate, can see that misrepresentation, but how many people have time to look at the actual figures”Murphy pointed out.
“Non-EU vessels are cleaning up the place with their quota, and one example is the Belgian beamers,”he said.
“And when the O’Flaherty brothers in Wexford bucked the trend and sent their fish to Belgium, the Belgians complained and then they get raided,”he said.
“The SFPA is facilitating a very unfair system under the Common Fisheries Policy, by both targeting Irish boats in surveillance and now misrepresenting the reality of their own figures,”he said.
“There are many ways of checking Irish vessels, and not so many for foreign vessels,”Murphy said.
“And so now we have gone from 400 boats over 15 metres on the Irish register to 140 this year,”he said.
“Even if we got our fish back, we don’t have the right now to build more boats,”he said. “and we have boats that are struggling so badly that if there was another decommissioning scheme in the morning and it was properly structured, I can think of at least 40 boat owners that would apply,”he said.
Irish industry is struggling
Killybegs Fishermen’s Organisation (KFO) chief executive Dominic Rihan concurred with Murphy’s point in relation to the impression given that Irish boats are doing well.
“Irish vessels are mainly inshore, and non-EU vessels are generally larger,”he said, so it is easy to give an impression that activity in terms of landing numbers translates into greater volume of fish.
“The SFPA will try to make their figures as positive as it can, but from our perspective it shows that the Irish industry is struggling, “Rihan said.
“There has been a general fall-off in landings, and one port that stands out is Killybegs,”he said.
“There is an issue with the control regime in Killybegs,as we have seen a 26 per cent reduction in the number of all nationalities of vessels landing here, which is 11 per cent by volume and 13 per cent by value,”he said.
“As an example, we had 50 Norwegian vessels in 2022 and just 12 in 2023, “he said.
“There is a similar fall-off for Danish and Dutch boats, as their producer organisations are telling them not to land here,”he said.
“Foreign landings are down by 20 per cent overall,”he noted.
“Meanwhile the figures show that the landings by Irish vessels outside Ireland has increased in both volume and value,”Rihan said.
“The figures also show the impact of Brexit,”he said.
“The figures for 2021 and 2022 masked the impact a bit as a certain amount of quota would be carried over,”he said.
“Now we have less quota and less to carry over, and there has been a 37.6 million euro reduction in the value of landings between 2022 and 2023,”Rihan noted.
“The SFPA is not hiding any numbers in its actual data, but we can see the patterns,”he said.
“You can already see the decline in Killybegs in ancillary and support industries, with many looking at other markets and going elsewhere for work,”he said.
“In addition you have a lot of operating cost pressure which are hurting vessel owners,”he said.
Rihan also said it was “disappointing” that the annual Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM) Business of Seafood report had not yet been published this year.
“You have to ask the question why a report which would normally be due out around April has not yet appeared, given that it is a very good report which gives an accurate reflection of where the industry is at,”Rihan, who formerly worked in BIM, said.
“It would suggest that Minister McConalogue and his department don’t want these figures to be published as yet as the figures are grim,”he said.
11% fall in value of Irish landings
Irish Fish Producers’ Organisation chief executive Aodh O Donnell expressed alarm at the fall in landings by Irish vessels, with a drop of almost 38 million euro in value.
This represents a fall of 11% compared to 2022, he noted.
“In contrast, landings by foreign vessels into Ireland dropped just 3%, with a €5m reduction,”O Donnell said.
“This is an indicator of how badly the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) is failing Ireland. We continue to fare worse than our EU counterparts, at a time when third countries such as Norway are increasing their take from Irish waters,” he said.
“It is time to recognise that we will never get our fair share of EU quotas under the current CFP,”O Donnell said.
“ It’s time to demand change and call for parity of treatment for the Irish fishing fleet. We sincerely believe that the 2024 figures will be drastically worse and this is obvious to everyone at Ireland’s fishing ports. This is impacting the sector at all levels from catching to processing and also service industries,” he said.
“If action is not taken now, we may reach the point of no return,”O Donnell warned.
“But there are steps which can be taken. For example, it’s time to challenge the deal which gives Norway access to over three times as much blue whiting as us – in our own waters,”he said.
“It’s time to review the [EU Parliament] Fisheries Committee structure, which currently has no Irish voting members on it,”he said.
“ It’s time for the Irish government to draw a line in the sand and demand that we get 12% of EU quotas to reflect our 12% share of EU waters. We are open and willing to discuss a way forward at national and EU level,”he said.
SFPA Response
A spokesman for the SFPA said the system of collecting data was “like for like” for all vessels, whether Irish or foreign.
He also denied that there was any “spinning” and said that all information was in the press release and accompanying data tables.
Asked if he felt that there were sufficient checks on information provided by non-Irish vessels, the spokesman said that “if required, or if we have a reason to believe there is a discrepancy in information provided, we can pursue that on a case by case basis”.
He said this could involve approaching the authorities of another member state.
Landings by Foreign Vessels
Vessels from France, Britain and Spain were the top three among non-Irish vessels to make landings into Ireland in 2023, according to the SFPA.
The authority’s annual statistics drew on data provided in landing declarations and sales notes for all vessels landing into Ireland, and on information provided to it by the sector on Irish vessels landing outside Ireland.
It says that in terms of volumes and values, there were 44,396 vessel landings in Ireland totalling 244,989 tonnes valued at €395,985,405 in 2023.
This breaks down into 42,356 landings by Irish boats with a total of 156,919 tonnes at a value of 248,312,183 euro, and 2,040 landings by non-Irish vessels, totalling 88,070 tonnes at a value of 147,673,222 euro.
Leading species were blue whiting at over 103,000 tonnes, valued at over 30.5 million euro, and Atlantic mackerel, at almost 57,000 tonnes and valued at almost 86 million euro.
There were 584 landings by Irish vessels into other ports, principally Britain (293 landings) and the Netherlands (125 landings) last year. Total tonnage of these landings was 30,124 tonnes at a value of 42,042, 654 euro.
For other nationalities there were 636 recorded landings into Irish ports by French vessels in 2023, amounting to over 12,000 tonnes and valued at over 43 million euro.
British-registered vessels made 599 landings, amounting to over 27,000 tonnes of fish and valued at almost 28 million euro.
Spanish-registered vessels recorded 444 landings, with over 8,500 tonnes valued at over 32 million euro, the SFPA data says.
Belgian vessels made 330 landings, amounting to almost 4,000 tonnes and valued at 24 million euro.
Norwegian vessels landed 12 times, and the SFPA says the Norwegian landings amounted to just over 20,000 tonnes and were valued at over 10 million euro.
The total value of non-Irish landings is quoted at 147,673,222 euro for 2023.
SFPA executive chair Paschal Hayes said that “collecting and reporting data in relation to sea-fisheries, as required under community law, is an important part of the SFPA’s mandate”.
“The SFPA uses the available data to monitor trends in sea-fishing vessel landings, locations and species being caught and to support our role as a sea-fisheries control authority,” he said.
“This information is also beneficial to key stakeholders as well as supporting our service delivery and workforce management,” he said.
Annual and quarterly statistics, including landings and inspections, are published on the SFPA website.
The website’s statistics pages provides fishermen and members of the public with a “one stop shop” to access a range of useful data on fishing activity, including Quota Uptake which is available on a weekly basis, the SFPA says.
Asked by The Skipper if the authority believed sales notes to be an accurate method of measuring landings, the SFPA said: “under current regulations, fishing vessels under 10 metres(m) are not required to use an electronic logbook. However, the buyer of first sale sea-fisheries products is required to be registered and to submit a sales note for each first sale transaction of fishery products”.
“The submission and accuracy of sales notes are the responsibility of the registered buyer and all fish buyers in Ireland must submit their sales notes electronically,”it said.
“The data provided by registered buyers is used as a data source for fishery product landings for under 10m fishing vessels. Generally speaking, landings from foreign fishing vessels into Ireland are from larger fishing vessels with electronic logbooks rather than under 10 m vessels,”it said.
“The SFPA wishes to advise that any evidence of misreporting should be notified directly to the SFPA via a local port office or through the SFPA’s confidential line,”it added.
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