AN INTERNATIONAL alliance involving skippers from both sides of the Border has called on EU maritime affairs commissioner Maria Damanaki to “halt the economic and social decline suffered by coastal communities”.
The alliance of groups from the Republic, Northern Ireland, Scotland, England and France held discussions in Brussels yesterday with the Greek commissioner.
The Reclaim Our Seas Alliance (Rosa) is supported by the Irish People’s Movement. It is lobbying for a “new strategic direction for fishing policy that gives member states with an interest in a particular fisheries area the primacy of deciding the right policy for that area”.
A revitalised Irish Fishermen’s Organisation (IFO) and the Northern Irish Fish Producers’ Organisation are the Irish participants in the campaign, and believe control of policy, management and fish stocks should be “repatriated” to individual EU member states.
The group told Ms Damanaki it was calling for a “halt to the centralising process that has characterised EU fisheries policy”, and believes the current Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) has “failed to support biological and ecological sustainability”. It says fisheries management must be “aligned with marine, environmental and marine planning objectives”.
IFO chair Ebbie Sheehan said after the discussion that the groups in the alliance had much common ground. “The one question she [Ms Damanaki] couldn’t answer was where she could see a sustainable future in the industry for young people in any member state,” he said. “It is the one industry where you have to have practical experience, and skills have to be retained. Currently, the laws in place are doing nothing for conservation.”