Tuna fishermen ask Woods to resist EU ban on driftnetting

The Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources, Dr Woods, has been urged to "stand firm" in resisting a proposed ban on driftnets at today's EU Fisheries Council in Luxembourg.

The ban, which secured a qualified majority at the last council meeting in March, has placed the future of a £4 million Irish tuna fishery in doubt. A delegation from the Irish South and West Fishermen's Organisation (IS&WFO) is due to travel to Luxembourg today to express its opposition to the proposal.

The ban has been justified on environmental grounds, to protect dolphins and whales from tuna nets. However, the real agenda is "political", according to the Fianna Fail MEP for Connacht-Ulster, Mr Pat "The Cope" Gallagher. He says the decision was taken to placate Spain, which wants to monopolise the tuna market. Spanish vessels use long-lines for the fishery, in competition with the gillnets used by Irish, French and Cornish vessels.

The Minister, Dr Woods, has also questioned the scientific basis for the ban. At the last council, he said that there was no evidence to prove that dolphins had been significantly threatened by the fishing method.

Mr Donal O'Driscoll, chairman of the IS&WFO, said the decision was not irreversible, as several EU member states now had reservations. His organisation has been in contact with counterparts in Belgium, France and Denmark, and it is "not as clear-cut as it seemed several months ago," he said.

The basis was particularly suspect, given that Spanish vessels have been using driftnets to catch swordfish in European waters.

Mr O'Driscoll also urged the Minister to use today's opportunity to raise the long-running issue of flagships in the EU. The recent case in Haverford West Crown Court in Britain, when flagships fishing off the British quota in Irish waters were fined £1 million, highlighted blatant breaches of quotas, he said.

The system of monitoring and surveillance was totally inadequate, he added.

Currently, about 150 flagships work in Irish waters. "When the Irish Box was opened up in 1996 to Spain and Portugal, we were given certain promises about control," Mr O'Driscoll said. "These promises have clearly not been kept."