A West-Cork based fishing industry boss has reiterated his belief that EU fishing quotas are ‘beyond ridiculous’.
The chief executive of the Irish South West Fisheries Producers Organisation Patrick Murphy came following a report by a Europe-wide non-governmental organisation Seas at Risk, who published a report advocating a ‘more forward-thinking approach based on environmental and social considerations for the allocation of fishing quotas’.
But the chief executive of the Irish South West Fisheries Producers Organisation Patrick Murphy said their claims don’t make sense, pointing out the distances foreign fleets travelled to fish Irish waters was far from environmentally-friendly.
‘This is getting beyond ridiculous. As it stands, a whopping 85% of our fish stock in our waters is going to foreign vessels,’ he said.
‘These foreign fishing fleets are travelling some 400 to 500 miles to even get to our waters. We have Russian, Japanese, and Chinese fishing vessels coming to the to the outskirts of our 200 Mile limit to catch Bluefin Tuna and Blue whiting, as well as Spanish, Belgium, Dutch, Lithuanian, Latvian, Polish, French and UK boats fishing up to six miles from our shore.
‘We have 61 Belgian Beamers steaming across the seas into Irish waters when we only have 120 boats left in our offshore fleet down from 400 in less than 20 years. We have only 5% of hake in our own waters, 1% herring in the Irish sea. If that doesn’t tell the story of the sorry state of the Irish fishing industry, I don’t know what will.’
Mr Murphy, who is standing for Aontú in the upcoming European elections, said that swapping out European quota and paying subsidies and tarrif-free market access so Spanish fleets can travel to the coast of Africa, up to the coast of the Bering Sea is not either environmentally friendly ‘or in any way “friendly” to our fishers who are being tossed around and are working to a standstill to try and eke out a living from our seas.
‘It is unjust and if this group is really serious about Article 17, they need to look at the other fleets that are fishing our waters with impunity.’
Mr Murphy took aim at Agriculture, Marine, and Fisheries Minister Charlie McConalogue, who he claimed was ‘allowing fishers from other countries to fish our seas dry. He has allowed the Norwegians in, perhaps the Icelandic crews are next, it is truly beyond belief. I have challenged him to a debate but his response is deafening.’
