www.inshore-ireland.com The Marine & Freshwater Environment Publication
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Spring 2017 Vol 13 Issue 1
ONLINE EDITION
Investment to safeguard inland fisheries
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Seafood industry advised to ‘prepare for the long haul’ regarding Brexit negotiations Gillian Mills & Gery Flynn
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reland’s seafood sector faces “unique challenges and must be protected during the Brexit negotiations”. The key challenge for government will be to ensure that fisheries and seafood concerns are “high on the EU agenda” and not separated from overall negotiations on a new EU/UK relationship. Michael Creed, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, was addressing a packed gathering of industry and State fisheries and seafood representatives attending a Brexit meeting in Dublin.
Ireland’s seafood sector is a €1bn industry with a first-sale value of €500m, exports worth €560m and employs 11,000 people in mostly remote coastal areas. Brexit poses a “very particular set of serious threats” over and above trade implications common to most sectors, he added. These concern potential loss of access to fishing grounds in the UK Zone, and possible attempts by the UK to increase its current quota share at the expense of Ireland. “Any changes to existing rights for the Irish and EU catching sector must be resisted strenuously,” he said. Behind the scenes , DAFM officials will be studying
UK demands, strengths and weaknesses along with their fishing and trade interests, against Irish strengths and weaknesses and Member State priorities. Assistant Secretary General Cecil Beamish said it was imperative that the Irish position was presented as a united effort to ensure a common voice based on the facts. “Prepare for a long haul,” he warned.
Industry concerns
Producer, processing and exporter representatives unitedly said access, quota and trade were the key issues, and had to be negotiated collectively. If the UK successfully
negotiates exclusion of fishing vessels from their 33% share of North East Atlantic Waters, what will happen to displaced Irish and other Member State vessels? Wherever they go, additional pressure will inevitably be put on fish stocks, they warned. Irish concerns are underpinned by UK commentary, notably by the Minister of Fisheries George Eustice’s remark in The Guardian (October 30): ‘British fishermen will catch hundreds of thousands of tonnes more fish after Brexit.’ (see sidebar) Ireland shares 47 of its 50 Total Allowable Catches (TACs) with the UK and stands to lose “catastrophically from an
Oilean an Oir (27m) steaming down the Minch loaded with mackerel (see Mackerel Review article pg 12).
EU without Britain,” warned Sean O’Donoghue, Killybegs Fishermen’s Organisation. Ireland also enjoys the benefit of ‘Hague Preferences’ (along with the UK) of increased quotas for some key species when reductions are imposed. “This arrangement will be threatened when we will be the only Member State benefitting post Brexit,” he warned. Around 33% of Irish catches came from UK waters in 2015. The two main species were mackerel and nephrops “requiring anything from 40% to 50% access to British fishing grounds”. »» page 14
Photo John Cunningham