Ireland’s Minister of Fisheries Charlie McConalogue briefed fishing industry figures at a meeting held in Galway, stating that the interest in decommissioning has been such that additional funding was Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and updated EU State Aid approval has been secured.
‘Offers for voluntary decommissioning will now be made to 57 vessel owners and the decommissioning of those vessels will make available an extra €34 million in quota for the remainder of the whitefish fleet improving their profitability and securing the future of the fleet,’ he said.
‘I am satisfied that I have now enabled all those who have chosen to apply for this scheme receive the full value of the scheme payment as guided by the Seafood Taskforce recommendation.’
The focus of the decommissioning scheme is on at whitefish polyvalent and beam trawlers, with the objective of voluntarily removing 8000gt and 21,000kW from the fleet, with the intention of improving the viability of the remaining fleet by making available more quota to them.
Charlie McConalogue also discussed the sensitive subject of the ongoing negotiations between the EU and Norway, which have serious implications for Irish waters.
‘Our interests relate to blue whiting and the level of the transfer of blue whiting quota to Norway to pay for other fishing opportunities that the EU is seeking and the level of access to EU waters which, in practice, involves fishing in Ireland’s 200 miles zone. These negotiations will re-commence on Wednesday. The discussions with Irish industry representatives today were very useful and enabled a full consideration of the issues and the negotiating options,’ he said.
‘This round of negotiations are being held in Brussels. I am pleased that a number of our industry representatives will attend and assist my team as the negotiations progress. I advised that I am continuing to engage directly with Commissioner Sinkevicius, EU Commissioner for Fisheries and the Environment to ensure that he understands Irelands’ concerns and its priorities in these negotiations.’
