MINISTER FOR the Marine Simon Coveney says Ireland has “significant issues” with new plans by EU maritime affairs commissioner Maria Damanaki for management of the fishing industry.
Speaking after an EU ministerial council in Brussels, Mr Coveney has pledged to oppose Ms Damanaki’s scheme of tradeable fish quotas, and says her plan to ban discards of fish between 2014 and 2016 is “too simplistic”.
Mr Coveney has said discards of undersized or unwanted fish were “as abhorrent to fishermen as to the general public” yet the European Commission’s solution was “more likely to result in the concealment of the practice than a change in the behaviour”.
“I am absolutely committed to addressing the problem in a practical and progressive manner, working directly with fishermen and scientists,” he said.
The EU Common Fisheries Policy is due to be reformed by 2013. Ms Damanaki’s plan, published last week, to introduce individual transferable quotas (ITQ) is likely to put intense pressure on stocks – rather than protect them – as it may allow multinational companies to buy up national allocations.
Britain, Denmark and Iceland have all introduced models of the ITQ system,which has resulted in British quotas being bought up by Spanish interests.
“Commissioner Damanaki has argued that her proposal would restrict the transfer of quotas to within each member state and retention of quotas in public ownership,” Mr Coveney said. “I made it clear that I am very concerned that the commission proposal will result in the effective privatisation of fish quotas and their concentration in the hands of multinational companies without links to Ireland’s coastal communities.”
Mr Coveney has also made a strong case for an increase in the quota for cod in the Celtic Sea for this year.