Observers boarding supertrawlers ‘no problem’, says Dutch association

Dutch freezer trawlers which fish off the Irish coast are not “pirates” and would have “no problem” with taking independent observers on board while at sea, according to their association.

However, a system of observers would have to apply to all such “pelagic” vessels working in these waters, Dutch Pelagic Freezer-trawler Association (PFA) president Gerard van Balsfoort has said.

Speaking to The Irish Times in advance of the annual EU quota talks which open this week, Mr Balsfoort said that his fleet had already engaged in trials on using on-board cameras.

Drones or cameras would help to “demonstrate that these are clean fisheries”, Mr Balsfoort said, taking issue with recent criticism by several non-governmental organisations of the activities of the “supertrawlers”.

Two of the world's largest fishing vessels – the former Atlantic Dawn, now known as the Annelies Ilena and the Margiris, which was banned from Australia – are among a fleet of Dutch vessels with an annual quota for pelagic or mid-water species such as mackerel, horse mackerel and blue whiting in Irish waters.

Two years ago, the Naval Service detained the Annelies Ilena on suspicion of "high grading" or selecting only larger fish.

Although the “high grading” charge was subsequently dropped, the skipper was fined €105,000 for other technical offences.

The discarding of fish by pelagic vessels is now banned, but the Irish Wildlife Trust has expressed concern about mortalities of cetaceans – as in whales and dolphins – during by-catch, and has called on the Government to ensure observers are put on board.

Under EU rules, this can only be requested by a flag state – as in the country of vessel registration – and there is currently no legal requirement for observers on vessels.

Mr Balsfoort said that there was much “misrepresentation” about the environmental impact of his fleet.

The fleet worked to a “gold standard” in sustainable fishing, and co-operated with scientific organisations, NGOs, and Irish counterparts such as the Killybegs Fishermen’s Organisation (KFO), he said.

The Irish quota for mackerel was larger than that for Holland this year, he said – although the reason Dutch vessels register in other member states such as Lithuania is to avail of that quota.

“All pelagic trawlers, be it Dutch, Irish, Danish or Norwegian, do have large amounts of quota to catch” in a well-managed and healthy fishery, he said.

The size of the vessels did not relate to their catching capacity, but to their ability to stay at sea for long periods and freeze fish – with 80 per cent of a freezer trawler’s capacity relating to sorting, processing, freezing and cold-storage on board, he said.

The vessels had an “incredibly low by-catch” of about 0 to five per cent, due to their ability to pinpoint the large migratory shoals they are targeting, Mr Balsfoort said, and trials to further improve nets to allow dolphins and sharks to escape were continuing.

The Sea Fisheries Protection Authority (SFPA) says that all vessels operating within the Irish exclusive economic zone are "continuously monitored electronically" and at sea.The association says it works closely with other national authorities to cross-check and verify landing totals.

Minister for Marine Simon Coveney has warned that the discard ban, which will extend on a phased basis to whitefish vessels from January, adds to the complexity of this week's negotiations on fish quotas for 2016. Fisheries for prawns, whiting in the Celtic Sea and haddock in the Irish Sea and the area west of Scotland will also be subject to the discard ban in 2016.