Speaking in the European Parliament Fisheries Committee today in Brussels, Jim Allister MEP raised with the Director General for Fisheries the declining state of the Northern Ireland Fishing industry.

Mr Allister told the Committee, “Northern Ireland once had a vibrant and prosperous fishing fleet but today it is greatly diminished and struggling thanks to the punitive 'one size fits all' common fisheries policy.  Today, the average age of fishing vessels in Northern Ireland is over 30 years old, yet the Commons Fisheries Policy prohibits state aid, including from December 2004 aid for much needed modernisation.  The Common Fisheries Policy is delivering terminal decline to the industry”.

The DUP MEP called on the Commission to permit continuing aid for fleets which were in desperate decline, though he accepted that part of the problem lay in the UK Govt refusing, while aid was permitted, to match funding on a pound for pound basis.