FISHING skippers and crew have agreed to defer further protest action on the fuel price issue, pending the outcome of the next meeting of the EU’s Council of Fisheries Ministers in two weeks.
If there is no response from Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries Brendan Smith and his junior counterpart, Tony Killeen, on these issues, the group intends to stage a demonstration during the visit of French president Nicolas Sarkozy to Ireland on July 11th.
They have called for “immediate action” from the Government on a number of key domestic issues, including “decriminalisation” of the sector, the system of forced discards of mature fish, and conservation of stocks.
“We want Mr Sarkozy to know why Irish coastal communities voted No to the Lisbon Treaty,” the group’s spokesman, Kinsale skipper Johnny Walsh, told The Irish Times. Up to 400 skippers and crew from “every port on the compass” attended yesterday’s meeting in Athlone, Co Westmeath, which was called to review a suspension of port blockades initiated last month.
The group expressed disappointment over the outcome of last week’s EU fisheries council in Luxembourg, where EU fisheries commissioner Joe Borg sought to buy more time in relation to the fuel price issue. Mr Borg has acknowledged that the European industry is in severe financial difficulty, and has promised to come up with proposals in time for the July 15th ministerial council.
Mr Walsh said the group understood that the fuel price issue was a matter for the EU, and a combination of temporary tie-up aid and a fairer share of quotas for Irish vessels was vital.
Domestic issues within the control of the Government should be addressed to ease severe financial pressure on vessel owners and crew, he said.
These issues included initiation of administrative sanctions for minor offences, which was “standard across Europe”, Mr Walsh said, as an alternative to the current system, which was “criminalising an entire sector”.
In addition, decommissioning of whitefish vessels had to be backed up by adequate funds, as promised by Mr Smith and Mr Killeen, he said. The Government’s €42 million programme has been offered to 46 vessels, some €24 million short of the figure recommended in the Cawley seafood strategy published last year.
Mr Walsh said the group also wanted to see a greater commitment to conservation, through national control of waters, immediate action to address forced discards and a review of the current regulations on catching sea bass.
The group was also strongly critical of its industry umbrella organisation, the Federation of Irish Fishermen (FIF), which represents some 90 per cent of vessels over 12m in length. The FIF did not send a representative to the meeting.
A steering committee established by the group intends to meet the FIF in an effort to “ensure that the industry speaks with one united voice”, Mr Walsh said. “We want to make sure that the shared interests of both FIF members and those not affiliated to its producer organisations are voiced,” he said.