When John Major went to Cornwall at the height of his election campaign, it was not to make use of a photo opportunity in pretty ports by the sea. Fishing has become a political issue in Britain in the last couple of years, as successive confidence votes in the House of Commons have testified. That it has been whipped up by Tory Eurosceptics does not detract from the fact that the Save Britain's Fish campaign made its point on television screens as far away as Russia. The result? A 12 per cent swing away from Tories to Liberal Democrats in Cornwall South East, in spite of Mr Major's visit, and severe Tory losses in the big Scottish ports.
Two recent announcements made here by the Minister for the Marine might be interpreted as electioneering. However, the manner in which they were made reflects a view that there is little political gain to be had from this sector at all. Agriculture's economic influence may be waning, due to consumer concerns and surpluses, yet the Government has not woken up to the potential of an eager world demand for fish. The first announcement is a commitment to EU and State aid for a very limited rebuilding of the whitefish fleet, while the second relates to safety training at sea. Fishing industry representatives have long argued that the Irish fleet cannot compete with its European counterparts. Unfortunately, it has taken a series of fatal accidents beginning with the loss of six lives in the Carrickatine 18 months ago to focus official attention on the validity of this case.
The whitefish fleet measure has elicited mixed reaction. Construction of four new vessels is regarded as far too modest to make any difference, but the initiative does reestablish the principal of State support for development. The safety measures, outlined by the Minister last week, have been long awaited. Most welcome is the decision to open a second fisheries training school, which will be run by Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM) in Castletownbere, Co Cork. Comprehensive safety regulations on fishing vessel construction, machinery and equipment, and manning requirements are to be drafted. The Department of the Marine is to take on more surveying staff. It intends to establish a specialised fishing vessel safety unit; and the expansion of the marine radio network is already in train. Many of the measures were recommended by the Minister's own review committee, which found serious deficiencies" in a shocking 64 per cent of vessels when it carried out a random survey early last year.
One measure which has evoked some anger is the commissioning of yet another consultancy report to determine a "human resource strategy" for the industry. The sector is already awash with studies. A Price Waterhouse review of fisheries management still has not been published two years after commissioning; and a review of the Naval Service and Air Corps, which will have considerable implications for surveillance and control of 16 per cent of EU waters, is still being kicked about months after promised publication by a Government steering group. The Minister could do worse than look at existing work on safety, such as the comprehensive evaluation published recently by the European Social Fund. It has identified a shortage of trained deckhands, and says that fisheries education should be a much higher priority on the national policy agenda. Significantly, it also highlights a culture change among skippers, who recognise the value of formal courses and no longer rely on old pisreogs about not learning to swim.