NI not entitled to fish for mussel seed in Republic – Supreme Court

The Supreme Court has declared Northern Ireland boats have no lawful entitlement to fish for mussel seed in the State's territorial waters.

The court ruled that Article 10 of the Constitution, which provides that all natural resources belong to the State, means regulation of fishing for mussel seed in the State’s territorial waters “is the regulation and management of a natural resource, and therefore property belonging to the State, which must be provided for by law”.

The existing arrangements for such fishing, which contains specific provisions for exploitation of a natural resource, cannot be said to be law for the purposes of Article 10, Mr Justice Donal O’Donnell said.

Those provisions cannot become law for the purposes of Article 10 on the basis of a mere statutory reference to fishing in accordance with an arrangement, he said.

The judge added the legal challenge to mussel fishing by NI vessels did not involve any consideration of the merits of opposition to fishing by NI vessels but instead rested on whether or not such fishing was legal or not.

He was giving the six-judge court’s unanimous judgment granting an appeal by four mussel fishermen and shellfish farmers. The appeal is against rejection of their claim that the State unlawfully disposed of mussel seed to NI vessels and UK shellfish farmers.

‘Losses to State’

The four claimed “aggressive and unsympathetic” fishing by NI vessels has caused the loss of a sustainable Irish mussel industry which could have employed hundreds of people.

Losses to the State in earnings from export of mussels over the past 12 years could be as much as €200 million, they allege.

Available mussel seed dropped from 30,000 tons in 2002 to 2,400 tons in 2013 although the National Development Plan anticipated there would be 44,000 tons by 2015, it was also stated.

The four are Paul Barlow, Dunmore East, Co Wexford; Michael Crowley, Killinick, Co Wexford; Gerard Kelly, Greencastle, Co Donegal and Alex McCarthy, Kildimo, Co Limerick .

They claim they are facing financial ruin as a result of alleged disastrous depletion of mussel seed stocks caused by allowing boats from outside the Republic to dredge for seed off the east coast of Ireland.

The court heard they invested some €16 million for four state-of-the-art mussel dredging vessels and each received a State grant of about €1.4 million, having qualified for EU-backed aid.

All four were required to first submit aquaculture business plans which they said were based on their legitimate expectation that sufficient mussel seed would be available to support the enterprises and repay loans on the vessels.