An EU agreement on quotas for 2011 worth €233m to the Irish fishing industry would mean more than anything else for the Irish fishermen. The final agreement will deliver whitefish quotas worth some €116m, including the protection of Ireland’s €54m prawn fishery. There will be a 10% increase in quota for Ireland’s €75m mackerel industry and a two-thirds share, worth €4m, for Irish fishermen of the new boarfish industry.
According to Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Sean Connick this agreement is welcome by all as it was reached after two days of talks in Brussels on 2011 quotas for the Irish fishing fleet. Connick also said that this package will help underpin the economic future of our coastal communities. The negotiations have been particularly challenging this year with the European Commission proposing cuts across many stocks of commercial importance for Ireland.
The agreement also sees a 15 percent rise in haddock and whiting stocks in the Celtic Sea. However, quotas for the cod stocks off the north-west and the Irish Sea will be reduced by 25 percent. This is in line with the recovery plan for these stocks. Irish fishermen will also have to catch 3 percent less prawn, a catch normally worth €54m annually to Ireland’s whitefish fleet. The Commission had originally proposed a 17 percent cut.
The new €4m boarfish quota has been very well received. The Irish fishing industry has been working with the scientific community to develop a management plan for boarfish, a mid-water shoaling species, now found in large volumes off the south-west coast.
