The Killybegs Fishermen’s Organisation has accused the Government of not involving stakeholders when designating two new fishing conservation areas around Ireland.
Killybegs Fishermen’s Organisation CEO Seán O’Donoghue says that it represents “a new low with absolutely zero meaningful stakeholder engagement.”
It’s after two new Special Areas of Conservation were proposed, one at the Porcupine Shelf and the Southern Canyons. A new Special Protection Area in the North West sea has also been proposed by Government.
Seán O’Donoghue claims that these three proposals have been met with stiff rebuttals from the KFO and other organisations, but they are “yet to receive a meaningful response” from the Government.
He says that there is not sufficient scientific evidence that has been provided to fishermen to explain why these conservation areas are being introduced:
“Minister of State Malcom Noonan shocked everybody outside his own Department with the announcement of two proposed new Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) at the COP15 UN Biodiversity Conference in Montréal last December. We lodged a formal objection to this given the lack of scientific data underlying the proposal and its potential impact on our industry yet in spite of sustained communiques to the Minister and his officials, we have yet to receive any meaningful response,” he claimed.
O’Donoghue continued: “To add insult to injury, Minister Noonan followed the same modus operandi on July 13th last by announcing an SPA in the same autocratic fashion – this time relating to seabirds, giving rise to genuine concern that this will have an impact on fishing activities since it overlaps with nephrops (prawn) grounds in the North West Irish Sea. We have made the Department aware of our position and have lodged a submission but again, we have major concerns that not only are we not being listened to, but we are actually being treated with contempt.”
“Insofar as the proposed Porcupine Shelf SAC goes, it is akin to designating the combined area of counties Dublin, Wicklow, Wexford, Kildare and Louth based on the presence of a habitat equal in size to the Phoenix Park. There is even less logic regarding the Southern Canyons SAC designating the same area based on the presence of habitat the size of St Stephen’s Green . This is the archetypal example of using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.”
“We must also determine what analysis was used to derive the proposed outline of the SPA as no information was provided by NPWS. This begs the question of whether there was actually any analysis performed or whether it was an arbitrary decision. There is a pressing need for clarity around this issue. Without knowing the basis for the delineation, it’s impossible to determine if it’s scientifically robust or not.”