MINISTER of State for Fisheries Tony Killeen has said that there is an urgent need to underpin and bolster our indigenous industries on the coastline to create employment.
He was commenting on a new report by Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM) which found that some 65 per cent of seafood consumed here annually is imported.
Some €196 million worth of seafood was imported in 2007, while the value of Irish landings was just over €300 million.
Mr Killeen said that despite the global economic downturn, Ireland still had important natural resources.
“There hasn’t been good news in relation to quotas for Irish vessels in the short term, but there is good news on adding value to what we catch,” Mr Killeen said yesterday.
“So marketing and processing is essential,” he added.
The BIM report highlighted a lack of consumer awareness about the range of Irish seafood available. Implementing the report’s recommendations could help to secure the important economic role the seafood sector played, Mr Killeen said.
The report was compiled by the Irish Seafood Marketing Initiative Group, which was established by Mr Killeen last year during the fuel crisis in the industry.
“This resource is vital to job creation especially in rural areas,” Mr Killeen said.
BIM is hosting a series of seminars on increasing the value of catch, safety at sea and inshore fisheries management at the two-day Irish Skipper Expo which opens in the Galway Bay Hotel, Salthill, Galway, today.