MEP takes fishing demands to the top
24 November 2008
Following the failure of Connor Murphy, as Gildernew’s “stand-in”, at last week’s Fisheries negotiations, to secure anything for Northern Ireland, Traditional Unionist MEP Jim Allister has gone above the local Department’s head to appeal to the UK Fisheries Minister to deliver on the next round, the quota negotiations.
Last week a savage 25% cut was agreed in the “days at sea” permitted to local fishermen. Now, as we face into the quota negotiations, Mr Allister fears that there too Northern Ireland will be let down. The Commission is demanding cuts in quotas on prawns, cod, plaice and herring which would be disastrous for the local industry. It is vital that the prawn quota, in particular, is not cut.
Following crisis talks with the fishermen’s representatives in Kilkeel and Portavogie, Mr Allister has today written to the DEFRA Secretary of State and next week will meet with the UK Permanent Representative in Brussels to insist that Northern Ireland’s interests are not sold short.
The text of the MEP’s letter to the Secretary of State is as follows:-
Dear Secretary of State,
I write to you following the agreement by the EU Council of Ministers on a 25% cut in days at sea for the Irish Sea. This has caused great alarm and unease in my constituency and makes the upcoming quota negotiations more critical than ever.
As you must realise the Irish Sea is the most regulated area in British waters and seems year on year to be the scapegoat offered up to take the pressure off more favoured areas, like the North Sea. Not only have we had huge year on year cuts in days at sea provision and cuts in quota, but we are the only region to have been subjected to 10 years of closure under the patently ineffective Cod Recovery Scheme. Hence our whitefish fleet has been all but wiped out.
I must say, I simply do not understand how a 25% cut in days at sea can be warranted in the Irish Sea, but no such measures are required, for example, in the Celtic Sea. It’s the same cod swimming in both!
If this situation is compounded by you giving in to the Commission’s unreasonable demand on quota cuts, then, I do not know how my local industry can survive. Is that what is desired?
I wish to implore you to take a stand in defence of Irish Sea interests. It is imperative that there is no cut in the prawn quota. We have been forced into high dependence on prawns, the stocks are good and there can be no justification for any further cut in quota. Please, therefore, stand firm on this issue. Likewise, we need an increase on plaice and herring.
Despite devolution, we have seen no improvement in the outcome for Northern Ireland in these negotiations. My fishermen, who are becoming increasingly angry, feel that their interests are so far down the UK’s priorities that they, year on year, are getting the rawest deal of all. I trust in the quota negotiations you will prove otherwise.
Yours sincerely,
Jim Allister MEP
