A NEWLY revitalised Irish Fishermen’s Organisation (IFO) has called on coastal communities to vote against the Lisbon Treaty in the autumn referendum.
However, the Federation of Irish Fishermen (FIF) has said it is keeping an “open mind” on the referendum at the moment, due to changed economic circumstances and other factors.
IFO chairman Ebbie Sheehan said that the stance had been taken after a unanimous vote at the organisation’s recent annual general meeting.
“The Irish fishing industry is the only sector that has paid for our membership of the EU, and we estimate that European vessels have taken up to €200 billion worth of fish out of our waters over the last 35 years of membership,” Mr Sheehan said on Tuesday.
The re-organised IFO represents whitefish vessel owners and skippers, some of whom were involved in protests last year over rising fuel and falling fish prices.
“Since last year’s protests, conditions have got worse with up to 50 per cent decrease in wages partly due to global recession – but mostly due to the huge importation of fish into Ireland from non EU countries,” the IFO states.
“Up to 90 per cent of fish caught by Irish boats is being exported. Fish prices have halved in the last twelve months, while we import cheap fish from all over the world. These imports are putting huge pressure on Irish fishermen, while fish sold in the shops is still expensive,” it says.
“Ireland is the only country in Europe that has introduced a criminalisation Bill against its fishermen,” it says. New safety rules for vessels between 15m and 24m are also proving prohibitively expensive, due to the cost of surveys estimated between €80,000 and €100,000, Mr Sheehan says.
The FIF, which represents four producer organisations across the island, said it was keeping an open mind at present on “Lisbon II” and its outgoing chair Lorcan Ó Cinnéide said in a recent statement that the umbrella group “certainly does not advocate its rejection”.
“Those in the fishing industry will have to weigh both the fishing issues and the wider political, social and economic issues for the country as a whole in deciding their attitude to any new referendum,” he said, and the FIF would engage with the Government to ensure the industry’s concerns were taken into account in Ireland’s negotiating position.
The EU’s Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) is up for review, and Fisheries commissioner Joe Borg recently admitted that it had been a failure when he called for thorough reform.
The reformed IFO says it intends to meet with Northern Irish and Scottish counterparts with a view to finding common ground on their case for review.