Ireland’s fisheries inspection system makes “a joke” of the EU’s claim of “a level playing field,” according to a group representing Irish fishermen and coastal communities.
This week Cormac Burke, chairman of the Irish Fishing & Seafood Alliance (IFSA), hit out on Facebook at Ireland’s fisheries inspection body, claiming that the group put less scrutiny on European vessels than on Irish ones.
“Photographed below is a Belgian beamer landing in Cork yesterday with, as seems to always be the case with non-Irish vessels operating in Irish waters and landing into Irish ports, zero fisheries monitoring or landing inspection by Ireland’s Sea Fisheries Protection Authority (SFPA),” he wrote.
“And meanwhile it is strongly believed that the same SFPA are planning on increasing their level of attention on particular Irish fishing vessels and companies.”
Burke went on to claim that Spanish fishing companies are “at present busy buying up Belgian and French vessels with licences to fish in Irish waters.” He also claimed that Belgian beamers arrived into Dun Laoghaire last week carrying monkfish, with no inspections carried out, while Irish fishermen are not allowed to enter this port with that variety of fish.
“The owners of other EU nations’ fishing companies are to be admired for their shrewdness and business acumen in knowing all the legal loopholes,” he said.
“But surely at some point the Irish Government, the Minister for Marine and his civil servants must be called upon to explain why they are willingly allowing everyone, except Irish fishermen, to reap the benefits of the rich resource that lies within Irish waters.
“It is shameful that not only is the Irish fishing industry being screwed from the outside with foreign fleets knowing how to ‘work the system,’ but are at the same time being equally screwed by Irish authorities with no strategy other than tie-up schemes, fleet reduction plans, and those that remain will be facing an even tougher and unfair inspection regime from the SFPA.”
He added: “The Irish fishing industry has reached breaking point and something has to give in the very near future.”
Burke later responded to claims from the SFPA that they wanted to focus on “marine sustainability,” saying that they were “doing their best to make the fishing industry unsustainable.”
There has been significant discontent with EU regulations among Irish fishermen in recent years.
Irish South and West Fish Producers Organisation CEO, Patrick Murphy, said last year that unless the EU quota policy changes, as many as 1 in 5 Irish fishermen may be forced to quit the profession.
Up to a fifth of Irish fishermen will be forced to quit unless changes are made to the European Union Common Fisheries Policy that allows foreign vessels to catch up to 85 per cent of fish in Irish waters, the industry has warned https://t.co/hRVV8Qhgox
— The Irish Times (@IrishTimes) September 29, 2021
Gript previously interviewed fishing protestors, in a video which can be viewed below.