Minister denies fisheries board to be pared down

The Minister for the Marine, Mr Ahern, has denied that the Government has decided to trim down Bord Iascaigh Mhara, the sea fisheries board, and transfer its marketing functions to An Bord Bia.

"Nothing has been decided in relation to any of these issues," the Minister told The Irish Times in Galway. But Mr Ahern said he was not averse to examining ways to improve the marketing of Irish produce abroad, and to ensure that Irish executives were not "tripping over each other" at international food festivals "as has happened".

The Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources confirmed last month that several options were being examined regarding a "super food agency" to market Ireland's food exports abroad. This could involve merging the functions of Bord Bia and BIM, as had already occurred in the case of Bord Glas.

Nine seafood industry organisations issued statements opposing such a move and it was also criticised by BIM chairman Mr Hugh Byrne, a former junior marine minister and former Fianna Fail TD for Wexford. Mr Byrne said it was essential for the marine industry that the marketing role be retained, particularly since the sector had been "pretty badly hurt" at EU level.

The Minister said the review was not about saving money. "We want to make sure we have the proper synergies for the money we have, and spend it a bit more wisely," he said. "But nothing will happen until I am absolutely satisfied that it makes sense, and I have seen nothing to date that would suggest to me that anything should change."

The BIM chairman, who was only appointed several months ago, said the sea fisheries board, based in Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin, was "probably the most successful and professional agency I have ever worked with in politics, and that was before I was appointed Minister". BIM's three key functions are training, developing and marketing of fish products. Recently it hosted a Seafood Expo in Dublin which attracted 250 buyers, 50 fish processors and involved some 800 trade meetings.

Marketing fish was a very specialised skill, and involved a "very different language" and a very different approach to that taken with other food products, Mr Byrne said. BIM had built up a wealth of knowledge and expertise, and served as a "one stop shop" for the marine industry. Any segregation of this would be detrimental, he said.