EC Cod Recovery Plan Will Hit NI Hard

As the European Fisheries Council agreed unanimously to a revised cod recovery plan to protect cod stocks today, Conor Murphy MP - who represented party colleague, Agriculture Minister Michelle Gildernew - at the discussions expressed his real concern at the reductions in fishing quotas and how it will affect the local fleet.

He was frustrated over a complete lack of movement on a plan to cut catches by a full quarter.

He said: "This was an extremely difficult negotiation given the European Commission's determination to conserve cod stocks and on the issue of reducing fishing effort by 25% it showed no flexibility.

"I strongly opposed this stance which I regarded as unacceptable to the local fleet," he said, but had to accept that the Commission would not move on this figure.

"It formed part of the overall package which was agreed unanimously by all 27 member states at the Council," he said.

The only movement was on the 'baseline' to be used to measure fishing effort and on the ability to grant extra effort to vessels which follow cod avoidance plans.

The Minister therefore stressed that: "It will be important for officials and the industry to work together and consider carefully the new arrangement and to establish what opportunities there are to take full advantage of the flexibilities in the agreement."

This time last year, while major quota cuts proposed for fishermen were less than originally proposed, the number of days they could spend on the Irish Sea were reduced.

Last December, the Government announced the results after extended meetings between the NI Assembly's Fisheries Minister Michelle Gildernew and EU commissioners with whom she conducted intensive all-night talks.

At that time, an anticipated 25% cut of the cod quota was reduced to 18%, while the number of haddock the Northern Ireland fleet could catch increased by 5% when a 15% reduction was expected.

The number of days NI-based trawlers could be at sea, which was due to be cut by 25% across the fleet, was also less than anticipated, reduced by only 10% for the prawn fleet and some 18% for the small white-fish fleet.

This year though, the news is less positive for the indigenous fishing industry.

See: EC Cuts On NI Fishing Catch Less Than Expected

(BMcC)