Job losses predicted if proposed fish cuts in 2016 are implemented

As the two-day annual fisheries talks get underway in Brussels today to decide 2016 TACs and quotas, Ireland’s marine minister Simon Coveney said some of the proposals were “unnecessarily restrictive” and did not reflect scientific advice.

The Commission is proposing a 43% and 27% cut to cod and haddock quotas respectively in the Celtic Sea, despite that these stocks are stable. “Cuts of this magnitude are not justified,” he added.

Fishery centres such as Howth on the east coast will be hit hard if the proposed fish cuts in the Irish Sea are implemented

Cuts are also proposed in prawn and whitefish quotas in the Irish Sea that are also not supported by scientific advice, he contends. “We must set quotas that support sustainable fish stocks and I will support cuts where the scientific advice is clear that that is the right thing to do.”

An added complexity attaches to this year’s negotiations as the new landing obligation for certain stocks applies from January 1. As part of the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy, it was agreed that quotas would be adjusted upwards for stocks covered by the discards ban to take account of the new situation that all catches must now be landed.

“It is vital that this ‘uplift’ in quotas is fully applied to the stocks that come under the discards ban in 2016, to support its practical implementation,” Minister Coveney stressed.

In 2016, Irish fisheries covered by discards ban include prawns, whiting in the Celtic Sea and haddock in the Irish Sea and the area west of Scotland.

Sean O’Donoghue, CEO of the Killybegs Fishermen’s Organisation has warned that up to 325 fulltime and part-time jobs could be lost if the proposed cuts are implemented. The resulting direct and indirect financial losses are put at roughly €23.5m and do not include the 15% reduction in the TAC for mackerel already agreed with Norway and Faros, he said.

“I am very concerned about the outcome… particularly for certain pelagic (blue whiting and herring) and demersal (nephrops, cod, haddock and whiting) stocks of interest to Ireland.”

Ongoing blue whiting negotiations since October have been unsuccessful and the KFO is calling on Minister Coveney to ensure that the EU percentage share of this fishery is significantly increased to reflect the reality that it is mainly caught in the waters off the west coasts of Ireland and Scotland.

The zero TAC for herring in the northwest does not reflect the large shoals of herring that fishermen are experiencing “and cannot be accepted to continue for next year”, he warned.

O’Donoghue added that the Commission’s proposals fail to recognise a ‘phasing in’ of maximum sustainable yield (MSY) up to 2020, permitted under the new CFP.

“If this had been done, the proposed cuts would be almost eliminated or significantly reduced, and I expect Minister Coveney to take full account of this phasing. I recognise that when the state of the stock requires it, there must be reductions in fishing opportunities for particular stocks. “It is my contention however that some of the reductions proposed on our key stocks are both unjustifiable and unacceptable,” he said.