THE IRISH fishing industry is now “largely compliant” with EU rules and keen to meet environmental standards, the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority has said.
Authority chairman Peter Whelan said there has been a “significant drop” in detentions of Irish fishing vessels by his organisation and the Naval Service since 2007.
Mr Whelan was speaking on the Naval flagship LE Eithnein Galway yesterday, where a compliance guide for the inshore fleet was presented to Minister of State for Fisheries Sean Connick.
The guide was developed as a result of co-operation between the authority and fishermen in Kilmore Quay, Co Wexford. It consolidates masses of EU rules and regulations into one foldaway, concise document, with information ranging from quota restrictions and vessel markings to gear requirements and food safety. It will be distributed to all fishermen.
The inshore fleet of vessels under 15m in length comprises some 87 per cent of the entire Irish fleet.
EU regulations tend to be “quite complex” for the small vessel sector, which is “quite compliant” – and which is also keen to ensure the authority targets unlicensed and unregulated activity, Mr Whelan said.
The authority undertakes inshore patrols with the Naval Service, and authority detentions of Irish vessels have fallen from 18 in 2008 to two last year and one to date this year, he said. The Naval Service detentions of Irish-registered vessels showed a similar trend.
Due partly to lack of information provided by other member states on individual vessel quotas, the Naval Service has been inhibited in its efforts to detain non-Irish vessels fishing illegally in Irish waters. Mr Whelan notes some 150 vessels were signing up to an environmental management system, and skippers were also keen to work to Marine Stewardship Council standards.
Irish seafood products are exported to 24 countries, all of which are keen to ensure controls are in place, he said. “The Russians have been studying Irish controls recently and have been very impressed.”
Authority member Andrew Kinneen said a “real link” was emerging between consumer and producer, and compliance was a “very strong selling point” for Irish seafood. Mr Whelan noted the authority was the first regulatory authority to issue a compliance strategy.
The strategy was welcomed by industry representatives, including Irish Fishermen’s Organisation chairman Joe Maddock, who noted the Kilmore Quay input.
Mr Connick, who has been in Galway for the past two days during race week, also visited a cod-breeding project at the NUI Galway laboratory in Carna, Connemara, earlier this week. The project aims to establish and run a cod broodstock programme which can underpin the fish-farming industry.