IRISH MEPs have joined their counterparts from other member states in condemning the European Commission's proposal to cut Europe's fishing fleet by 40 per cent.
The European Parliament yesterday approved a series of reports detailing the crisis in the fishing industry. During the debate, members criticised the proposed cuts.
Fianna Fail's Mr Pat the Cope Gallagher accused Green Party MEP Ms Patricia McKenna of undermining the Irish fishing sector by supporting fleet reduction.
Ms McKenna said the EU would have to prepare an obituary for its fishing industry unless workable measures were implemented to deal with over-fishing.
"Agreement needs to be established on fleet reduction... which must be targeted at the supertrawlers that are devastating fish stocks and frequently catching vast quantities of immature fish, making it practically impossible for depleted stocks to replenish themselves."
She was not opposed to fisheries but was concerned with the industry's long-term survival. Making fisheries more reliant on supertrawlers was pushing small fishermen out of business which was "hugely detrimental to the industry."
But Mr Gallagher regretted Ms McKenna's support for fleet reduction. "It would be much better if all Irish MEPs could work together on a key issue of national interest as opposed to undermining our fishing sector." The Commission proposal to cut the EU fishing fleet by 40 per cent would devastate fishing communities throughout Ireland.
"It is unacceptable that Ireland should have to pay the price for relentless and ruthless overfishing by other countries such as Spain, he said. "The European Commission, if it is to pursue this issue in an acceptable manner, should focus its suggested cuts on the countries who have taken an irresponsible approach to fishing.
"Ireland should not be asked to downgrade its fishing sector - instead, we should be allowed to develop it further in the interests of creating much needed employment in peripheral regions."
He maintained that Irish fishermen were prevented from taking measures to increase safety on their boats since such improvements were wrongly regarded as adding to their capacity. He called on the Minister for the Marine,
Mr Barrett, to fight the Commission proposals "tooth and nail".
Ms Bernie Malone, the Dublin Socialist member, was also opposed to the Commission's plans. "Everyone accepts that fishing activity must be limited in line with declining resources. The Commission's proposals are, however, unfair and contradictory. They take no account of the age or size of boats that ply EU waters; it is simply ludicrous to suggest that identical restrictions should apply to 10-metre boats and to 70-metre ones.
She called on the Commission to target fleets which exerted unsustainable pressure on key stocks. "Fishing communities are by their nature located in the most peripheral parts of Europe. Particular attention must be given to the needs of small, isolated coastal communities that rely exclusively on fish," she said.
British Socialist MEP, Mr Peter Crampton, said that soon it might hardly be worthwhile for European fishermen to put to sea. "The basic problem is that there are too many boats and too few fish." The problem of too many boats could be dealt with through "a serious decommissioning scheme". Some member-states had made some efforts in this regard, but others, such as Britain had not. "Therefore, we are marked down for 40 per cent cuts."
Much could be done to deal with the problem of too few fish: "We can improve the gear to allow smaller fish to escape and there are a range of technical improvements that can be made."
"We need whole areas closed off for part of the year, or nearly permanently, to allow fish stocks to recover. We could end the practice of `discards', where 50 per cent or more of catches are discarded because fish are too small and unmarketable."