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THE GOVERNMENT’S AMENDMENT to the Sea Fisheries Bill could be unnecessary as Britain could leave the fishing arrangement the government are trying to comply with.
According to a report in The Telegraph, British Prime Minister Theresa May is expected to announce within weeks that the UK will be pulling out of the 1964 London Convention, of which Ireland is also a member.
The agreement allows European fishing vessels to access waters six to twelve nautical miles from British shores, and includes the voisinage arrangement, which allows countries to fish between 0-6 nautical miles on their neighbours’ shores.
But there is no provision in Irish law for voisinage, as a recent court ruling showed. So the Irish government has been progressing an amendment through the Seanad to comply with those arrangements – over 50 years after they were first agreed.
But if Britain leaves the London Convention (which is considered outdated anyway), and since fishing boundaries and quotas will be renegotiated as part of Brexit talks, there seems little point in rushing the bill through (it got this far without being voted on).
There’s been much controversy around the bill – with Senators Grace O’Sullivan, David Norris and Kevin Humphreys all voicing their concerns about the arrangement, which could see boats registering in Northern Ireland in order to fish in Irish shores.
Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed indicated that the reason for the government progressing the bill this far was to keep on Britain’s good side during Brexit negotiations:
Why would it be prudent today, as we seek to negotiate the best possible outcome for the Irish fishing industry in the context of Brexit, effectively to give two fingers to our neighbours in Northern Ireland and say they are not coming into our nought to six nautical mile zone, though we can still go North and would like to hold on to what we catch in their UK waters?
Europe
Meanwhile, EU fishing fleets are increasingly anxious about their future access to teeming British waters as Britain prepares to trigger the two-year countdown to its exit from the bloc.
Fleets from nine EU countries including France, Germany and Spain have banded together in a newly-created European Fisheries Alliance, formerly launched at the European Parliament last week, warning of steep losses if divorce proceedings turn bitter.
European fleets obtain one-third of their catch in the exclusive economic zone around the British Isles, and loss of access to those waters could cut their profits in half in the short term, the fishing alliance says.
In the long term, EU fleets could lose a combined 500 to 600 vessels if they were excluded from British waters, representing 15% of the total, and up to 3,000 fleet jobs.
From 2011 to 2015, European fleets caught 700,000 tonnes of fish and seafood in British waters, valued at about €612 million, the NAFC said in a report published in January.
British vessels, by contrast, caught just 92,000 tonnes, valued at 110 million pounds, in other EU waters.
Loads to go around
And the European Fisheries Alliance notes that Britain cannot eat all the salmon, lobster, scallops and other fish and seafood its boats produce: about 70% of production, worth a billion euros a year, is exported to its European partners.
Despite this, a UK parliament White Paper published in December found that the majority of fish consumed in Britain are imported.
“Continued access to free, or preferential, trade in fish and seafood will therefore be crucial for the seafood industry and UK consumers” after Brexit, the paper said.
And depending on whether Britain negotiates a “hard” or “soft” exit, the viability of dozens of fishing centres, from Concarneau in France and Rostock in Germany or Gdansk in Poland, could be at stake.
But others say that leaving the EU would give Britain a chance to revive homegrown fleets.
“Brexit is an opportunity for the UK to revitalise its fishing industry, stabilise threatened ecosystems and create thousands of new jobs,” said Lasse Gustavsson, executive director in Europe for Oceana, an environmental advocacy group.
“But this will only happen if overfishing is stopped.”
With reporting from © – AFP 2017
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“British Isles” ? seriously Journal. Time to move on!
Not that I like it either…. but it is a geographic term, not a political term.
“These Islands” is more neutral. About the only genuinely neutral thing about any of them.
The British Isles is not a recognised political or geographical term
@Awkward Seal: it’s a perfectly fine geographical term. The only issue with it is that it makes some Irish people get hysterical.
@Damocles: So if it makes ‘some’ Irish people hysterical, that’s OK?
@Paul Culligan: yes. People just need to calm down. Smell the cake, blow on the pizza.
@Paul Culligan: it helps sell rags and clickbait the keyboard warriors
The proposed legislation is written in a manner that is designed to be abused. The minister’s justification for the legislation has been undermined to the extent that only sucking up to the UK is left. The Minister is intent on securing rights for Foreign fishing vessels along the Irish foreshore and ignoring the Irish fishing industry and coastal communities. A Minister that is not for the Irish fishing industry is against it. Minister Creed should resign over this. This marine department would have successfully disowned our natural resources were it not for the successful appeal by the fishermen in the Supreme Court. Irish resources for Irish vessels. We have some of the best fishing grounds in Europe so let’s find a Minister with ability to deliver for the Irish fishing industry.
Our government rushed this bill to the dail to keep on the British governments good side , without holding any meetings to consult with the Irish fishermen the actual people that will be affected if it was passed. Already our fishing grounds are on a lot of stress and letting more access to them from northern boats would see the demise of a lot of them which would only recover by reducing fishing effort . When all go to shite which it will because our government is trying to please Britain and the eu , who will compensate the Irish fisherman with big boat mortgages ?? Nobody there is no compensation of decommissioning plan in place for the vessels, the will f**k us over and say tough shite.
The EU is sinking and Ireland wont float!!
@Trump Re[Loaded]: lol you need to stop watching RT or Breitbart. sad,
I bet the EU will hand them over to the Spainish now?
Fishing being a natural resource is vitally important and should not be abused. First and foremost the Minister must fight the ROI fishing sector corner first , last and always. Everything else is noise and an unwelcome distraction from securing the best deal for Irish boats. If deals are to be done with the northern fleet or the U.K. fleet it must be done on the basis of reciprocity where Ireland does not lose out. So sit tight, keep calm and await the outcome of PM May’s negotiations on Brexit ; there will be all sorts of opportunities and Ireland with its “cute hoor” mentality is ideally suited to exploiting any confusion from the Brexit fallout. Tight lines !
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