Fisheries council will debate Irish plan for size of EU fleet

"BRITAIN fighting our corner yet again, while we sit on our hands." The frustrated words of one Irish fishing industry representative - this weekend on the eve of today's EU fisheries council in Luxembourg.

The agenda? One main item - the Irish proposals for dealing with the size of the EU fishing fleet.

If there is a sense of deja vu about it, it is because of the valiant but failed attempts last year to reach agreement on this thorny fleet size question during the Irish, EU presidency. Inheriting the unpalatable "40 per cent cuts across the board" proposal put forward by EU Fisheries Commissioner, Ms Emma Bonino, which she sought on conservation grounds, Ireland came up with the compromise. It has been passed on to the Dutch Presidency and is to be debated again today.

The compromise involves a combination of fleet cuts and reduced catching effort. If agreed it would only affect certain stocks and certain vessels over a three year period, involving some 7-8 per cent of the Irish fleet.

The outcome is "impossible to predict", in the words of Mr Mark Lochrin of the Irish Fish Producers, Organisation, "yet such is the complexity and the amount of effort involved that if every delegation is successful, the result will have zero effect."

Only slight changes have been made to the Irish formula, according to the Department of the Marine, which believes there is a case for a qualified majority today. France and Germany are keen to achieve a resolution, as is the Dutch Presidency, while Denmark is said to be holding out for a complete reduction.

There are other issues at stake. EU funding for fleet modernisation and renewal will be affected by the agreement. Ireland has already taken a jesuitical stance on this, by suspending its £28 million renewal and modernisation programme.

The Irish delegation should not even be discussing the matter at all without supporting Britain on the controversial issue of "flagships", according to the Irish Southland West Fishermen's Organisation. Britain's view is that there should be no negotiation without tackling this loophole in the Common Fisheries Policy, whereby vessels, mainly Spanish, register in another member state and avail of that state's fish quota.

"Ireland cannot and must not accept any proposals that put forward a reduction in the Irish fleet, or in effort," the organisation has stated. "Rather, we seek an increase to correct past injustices, and the active discrimination against Ireland practised by the EU."

The average age of the Irish fleet is 31 years, the organisation points out. If the EU Commission is seeking to conserve fish stocks by reducing fleet size Ireland is already practising "natural" conservation through plentiful experience of bad weather. When weather is good, the Irish fleet is, being driven off the grounds.

Flagships are the main cause of this harassment, and of overfishing generally, it says. Recently, the EU Commission said it was aware that some of these vessels were under reporting fish catches by a factor of up to 1,000 per cent - but also said it was beyond its competence to deal with a "national issue" of fisheries control. There are 160 of these vessels working in these waters, most of which are registered in Britain.

Attempts by Britain to tackle the problem resulted in a European Court action by Spanish owners, and a £30 million compensation bill for loss of earnings.