First round in battle over fishing fleet cuts today

THE first round in the European Fisheries Commissioner's drive to trim community fleets is due to be fought in Luxembourg today, when fisheries ministers are expected to oppose any cuts anywhere.

The Minister for Defence and the Marine, Mr Barrett, has said that there is "no justification" for major cuts in the Irish fleet. He insists that Ireland "will not pay the price for overfishing by others".

The measure to reduce the fleet size by 40 per cent over six years has aroused vehement opposition since it was proposed last month by the EU Fisheries Commissioner, Ms Emma Bonino, on foot of scientific evidence of a sharp decline in fish stocks in European waters. She said the bulk of the cuts would have to be made in the first three years of the Fourth Multi Annual Guidance Programme (MAGP), the EU plan which sets out targets for fleet size, in this case up to 1999.

The proposal is in response to a study by independent scientists, known as the Lassen report, which warned of depleting stocks in selected fisheries, including mackerel, Celtic Sea herring and Irish Sea sole. The Lassen report targets many fisheries with a significant Irish interest for the biggest reductions and the European Commission intends to secure agreement on "guideline" capacity cuts for the EU fleet as a whole by the end of this month.

After that, individual member states will negotiate on a bilateral basis with the European Commission, during the Irish EU presidency, with a deadline of December 31st. National concerns will dictate Ireland's position on this issue during the presidency, a spokeswoman for the Minister for the Marine emphasised last month. However, having said that Ireland would not concede "a percentage", the Minister told the Seanad last week a "tough battle" would have to be fought. He expressed opposition to "major" cuts.

No definitive outcome, other than outright opposition, is expected at today's council, which is also due to discuss a Commission report on small inshore fisheries, the salmon market, satellite monitoring, a redfish quota and fisheries research. Britain's current policy of non co operation with EU decisions is only expected to affect fisheries research.

Significantly, Britain is still the most obviously out of line in meeting current fleet reduction targets.

The Irish Fish Producers' Organisation (IFPO) has said the Commission seems determined to introduce across the board cuts, ignoring the special needs of member states and the obvious correlation of depleted stocks with the activities of certain fleets - a reference to the Spanish.

However, Ms Patricia McKenna, a Green Party MEP and member of the European Parliament's fisheries committee, has said Ireland "should play its part" in reducing the EU fleet. The Irish fishing industry has made a serious error in devoting a huge amount of effort to building itself around a few supertrawlers instead of trying to support smaller fishermen and the coastal communities depending on them", she has said. "It is indefensible that just one boat - the Killybegs based Veronica - represents about one tenth of the total Irish tonnage.

She has also insisted than any fishermen adversely affected by fleet reduction should be compensated adequately and she has criticised the EU's failure to address the question of fisheries agreements with developing countries. Such "third country agreements" with African states such as Senegal permit the Community to send excess capacity to work off these coasts, resulting in depletion of local stocks.