THE Minister for the Marine, Mr Barrett, aims to break the deadlock on EU fishing-fleet cuts by proposing a compromise at this week's council meeting in Brussels.
The 40 per cent reduction in EU fleet size demanded by the Fisheries Commissioner, Ms Emma Bonino, has been rejected outright by member-states, leaving Ireland, as EU president, to broker some sort of deal. Fleet capacity to 1999 is the main item on Friday's council agenda.
Following a recent round of bilateral discussions with other EU ministers, Mr Barrett believes he has support for an alternative. Member-states should be permitted to opt for effort management and/or fleet cuts, the Minister told The Irish Times. This should be identified in national plans which are cleared by the EU Commission, he said.
The Commission should place more emphasis on reducing fishing effort and protecting critical stocks, the Minister said. Some whitefish stocks were not as badly hit as others, and the key was tighter control of landings onshore.
Catch-reporting was due to come into effect in January 1998, but a Community effort was required to ensure that landings were recorded, he said.
"If a flagship lands into a receiving state, this should be reported to the flag state," he said. The Minister said he would be pushing for agreement on the issue by the end of the year. Technical conservation measures and satellite monitoring of vessels of over 20 metres in length also had to be agreed.
The Irish South and West Fishermen's Organisation (lS&WFO) said yesterday that there was absolutely no need for savage cuts if technical conservation measures were implemented.
The Irish Fish Producers Organisation (IFPO) has predicted that negotiations on individual member-states' fleet-capacity targets will run well into next year, in spite of the December 31st deadline.
"For Ireland, cuts are simply not an option," the lFPO said. "The industry here is already minuscule in terms of economic viability, and it must be allowed to develop." If the objective was to reduce the amount of fish being caught, those doing the most damage should be targeted. Renewal of the Irish whitefish fleet and tackling flagships must remain a "top priority", it said.
On satellite monitoring, which the EU aims to make compulsory, the IFPO has said that there is "surprisingly little controversy about what amounts effectively to an electronic tagging system for fishing boats".
Only the Danes had disagreed in principle with the concept, while other member-states had decided that the advantages in terms of control outweighed the "more sinister dimensions" of the proposed "eye in the sky", it said.
The Irish Business and Employers' Confederation's new marine council has said that the proposed fleet reductions give ample justification for an early and fundamental review of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) before the planned revision in 2002.
The CFP as it stands is out of line with other Community policies and there are clear contradictions between it and the existing EU cohesion and regional policies, IBEC's council has said.
