The €1billion fishing industry must be made a top priority for our Government as Ireland faces the enormity of Brexit, the withdrawal of our nearest neighbour from the common market, says the Killybegs Fisherman’s Organisation.
The group says that with a snap election on June 8th, further obstacles and challenges have been put in the way of immediate negotiations around the form which Brexit will take.
UK Minister for Fisheries, George Eustice, has stated publicly that “British fishermen will catch hundreds of thousands of tonnes more fish after Brexit” and with Ireland sharing 47 out of its 50 Total Allowable Catches (TACs) and quotas stocks with Britain, it stands to reason that Ireland will suffer disproportionately if negotiations on fisheries are separated from trade negotiations.
The Irish and British fishing industries occupy a unique space. They are entwined like no other sector in sharing a limited resource as well as grounds and markets.
The level of uncertainty and the scale of the challenge facing Irish fishermen is causing the industry major concern according to the CEO of the Killybegs Fishermen’s Organisation (KFO), Seán O’Donoghue.
“Brexit is potentially disastrous for the Irish fleet in particular in concerning three key issues of access to waters, quota share and trade. Our two biggest fisheries, mackerel and nephrops are inextricably linked to Britain.
“Already Theresa May’s Government is advocating calls to ‘repair what went wrong in 1973’ which means Britain will be fighting for higher quotas and endeavouring to take the metaphorical fish off our plate. We believe that there is no justification whatsoever for any such move and would implore the Irish Government not to allow fisheries to become a bargaining chip in the high-level negotiations to follow.
“There is of course, also the level of seafood which we export to Britain. In 2015 alone, our total value of seafood exported to the UK stood at €71million. While our counterparts in Europe are understandably concerned about the ramifications of Brexit, our geographic location, existing arrangements and high dependency on Britain means that we are perilously positioned if our Government don’t negotiate extremely effectively on our behalf,” concluded Mr O’Donoghue.
The gorup says it is also worth noting that the European Fisheries Alliance, which is a coalition of fishing fleets from nine European countries – including Ireland – directly impacted by Brexit accounting for approximately 18,000 fishermen with an annual turnover of €20.7billion, is setting any internal grievances regarding the Common Fisheries Policy aside, to present a united front to lobby to protect the industry.
“It has written to all EU heads of Government, as well as the Presidents of the European Council and European Commission, calling for fisheries to be explicitly included in the negotiation mandate to guarantee mutual access to traditional fishing grounds, preservation of the current distribution of TAC and quotas as well as maintaining the existing trading arrangements post Brexit.
“Currently, the TACs of relevant commercial species are distributed between the United Kingdom and other EU Member States in accordance with the 1983 sharing agreement. This agreement reflects the situation after the United Kingdom and Ireland joined the European Economic Community in 1973 and has been the foundation of European fisheries for over 30 years.
“Moreover, this quota distribution has taken into account both historical practices and specific local considerations. Fisheries-dependent communities were offered preferential treatment for allocation keys; and in fact, both the United Kingdom and Ireland benefited from such a clause which further demonstrates the complexity of the relationship between Ireland, the UK and Europe in fisheries terms and the fact that a clean break is neither desirable nor possible.
According to Mr O’Donoghue, the fleet in Killybegs and the wider Irish industry face devastating consequences if fisheries aren’t made a top priority by the Irish Government. 11,000 jobs are sustained in coastal areas by the Irish seafood industry which is worth just over €1billion.
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