Fishermen `let down again'

Leading fishing industry representatives have reacted angrily to the Government's failure to provide for whitefish fleet renewal. "We've been let down yet again," Mr Joey Murrin, chief executive of the Killybegs Fishermen's Organisation (KFO), said last night.

He said the ageing whitefish fleet had been treated "very shabbily". Industry representatives had been given very firm indications by the Department of the Marine earlier this week that incentives would be included in the Budget as part of the Government's commitment to marine safety. However, no mention was made in the speech yesterday.

He said the safety issue was highlighted two years ago when a 30-year-old Co Donegal fishing vessel, the Carrickatine, vanished off the north-west with six crew. It focused attention on the fact that many fishermen put to sea in sub-standard vessels due to EU restrictions on fleet size which had precluded significant development in the whitefish sector.

He said a Government report on fishing vessel safety, published in June last year, found that 64 per cent of all vessels examined in a random survey had serious deficiencies.

Mr Murrin said the absence of any provision in the Budget would make it very hard for fishermen to believe "any promises from this Government".

The chairman of the Irish Salmon Growers' Association, Mr Gerry Paterson, said the Minister had missed an opportunity to signal that he intended to level the playing pitch between land and sea fish farmers.