Killybegs Fishermen’s Organisation has welcomed today’s European Commission two legislative proposals to help mitigate the disastrous impact a “no-deal” Brexit could have on Irish fisheries in 2019.
The EU proposal aims to compensate trawlers in the event of a no-deal Brexit, if European Union boats are barred from UK waters.
A no deal Brexit would automatically mean a ban on EU boats from fishing off Britain and British boats fishing in EU waters.
The sector sustains 14,500 jobs across Ireland and is worth an estimated €1.15billion to the Irish economy.
Seán O’Donoghue said while the reprieve is only temporary in nature, it is an important step to avoid catastrophe on the fishing grounds.
He said: “In the midst of all the chaos and uncertainty, we have been working diligently to keep fisheries high on the agenda of the negotiators which has been a seismic job of work.
“Ireland’s two biggest fisheries, mackerel (60%) and Nephrops (40%) (or prawns) are hugely dependent on access to UK waters with the overall dependency for all stocks of over 30%,” he added.
Maintaining reciprocal access to waters and resources need to be at the heart of the post-Brexit relationship in fisheries given the historic ties and inextricable links between our countries and industries.
“While we have made good progress to safeguard our members’ livelihoods in a post-Brexit trade deal scenario, it is crucial that we not take our eye off the ball and continue to press Britain to maintain the current levels of reciprocal access to waters and markets, as well as sound science-based fisheries management.