Action is being taken to prevent the collapse of fish stocks in the waters around Ireland, according to fish scientists at the Marine Institute.
Responding to a major international report which predicts the demise of global fish stocks by the middle of the century, the institute said the key for finding a solution to the problem was for fishermen and scientists to work together.
"We agree the ocean is an important and complex ecosystem. But it is very different in different parts of the globe and the problems and solutions are consequently area-specific," the institute's fisheries science services stated. "We know the problems in the waters around Ireland and we are doing something about them."
The hake stock was in near collapse in 2000, but an EU recovery plan has rebuilt it since, the institute pointed out. In similar fashion, scientists and industry were working on projects to deal with the decline in cod.
A spokesman also pointed out that the international team of scientists behind the report stressed that it was not too late to act to save fish stocks.
Writing this week in the journal Science, the researchers linked fishery decline to a broader loss of marine biodiversity. On current trends, by 2048 catches of all currently fished seafoods will have declined by more than 90 per cent since 1950, they said.
Lorcan Ó Cinnéide, chief executive of the Irish Fish Producers' Organisation, said the research was a wake-up call for the industry globally, even if it seemed "fanciful" for Irish conditions. He said the EU had in place sophisticated schemes for managing fish stocks but they weren't working.
The Green Party said the report demanded an immediate response from the Government and the EU.
Marine spokesman Eamon Ryan said: "The report backs up recent evidence from Irish scientists which shows that overfishing here has pushed once common species such as Atlantic cod, mackerel and herring into the extinction danger zone. With bigger fishing vessels carrying more advanced tracking and catching equipment, the last remaining stocks will be hunted down unless something is urgently done.
"The current fisheries management system encourages a free-for-all. Individual fleets are not required to provide up-to-date information on what they catch and land. Illegal fishing also leads to the catching of quantities in vast excess of agreed quotas, which politicians, in any case, consistently set above scientifically-recommended limits.
"The situation is made even worse because many of the fish caught are being washed overboard - unwanted either because they are too small or of the wrong species."
Mr Ryan continued: "To reverse this downwards spiral we need to take a number of immediate measures, including an alteration of the European Fisheries policy to require boats to provide instant live recordings of all the catches and landings they make" and changes in policy to support smaller inshore fishing vessels.
