Anger at delay in EU fish fleet aid

IRELAND, SPAIN and several other EU coastal states may co-operate on a new bid to expedite temporary tie-up aid for the fishing fleet.

Minister of State for Fisheries Tony Killeen said yesterday informal discussion were being held with up to five EU member states in relation to the critical situation involving national fleets.

A new fishing industry group has warned of “further action”, which may include port protests, if there is no action on five main issues which it has highlighted earlier this summer on quotas, fuel price increases, cheap imports and the need for administrative sanctions for minor offences.

EU fisheries ministers approved a €600 million aid package for the European industry in mid-July, but funding will not be available before next year. Action to tackle discards of marketable fish also will not take place before 2010.

Mr Killeen said that a group of “like-minded” coastal states had been taken aback by the level of opposition among a number of other states, including Germany and the Nordic countries to rolling out temporary tie-up funding.

Consultations were now being held with Spain, France, Italy and the Netherlands in a bid to present a united case at the next EU fisheries council late next month, he said.

The Federation of Irish Fishermen has said that the Government should not underestimate the “sense of despair, anger and frustration that fishermen are feeling”, and it was concerned about the “deafening silence” on the issue since the July council.

The separate “Athlone 15” group, representing both vessel owners and crews, warned protests will resume. “A resumption of the protests and further action can be expected if the issues have not been addressed by mid-September,” the “Athlone 15” group said in a statement.

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times