MINISTER OF State for Fisheries Tony Killeen has issued first-round offers to decommission vessels from the Irish whitefish fleet, under a €41 million scheme.
Some 46 approvals are being issued early this week as part of the Government's delayed decommissioning programme, which aims to reduce the whitefish fleet by up to a third.
The offers were sanctioned by Mr Killeen on the eve of his attendance at today's EU agriculture and fisheries council, where a number of issues affecting the European fishing industry are to be discussed.
The Federation of Irish Fishermen is seeking temporary tie-up aid for vessels hit by the fuel-price crisis, but the EU appears to have ruled out funding for this.
The 46 successful applicants to decommission vessels over 18 metres were selected from 71 who applied under the scheme. It was announced by former fisheries minister Mary Coughlan last February and is administered by Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM).
An additional 11 applications have been approved in principle but offers are subject to funding.
Mr Killeen said the results would ensure a "significant boost to the economics of those boats remaining in the fleet" as whitefish and prawn catches taken by the vessels approved for scrapping were valued at €20 million.
"This will, over the next five years, result in up to €100 million in additional catching opportunities for those boats that remain," he said last night. Some 27 whitefish boats were decommissioned between 2005 and 2006.
Payments range from €570,000 to €2 million, half of which will be paid this year and half next year. The average size of vessel is 165 gross tonnes.
Successful applicants must accept by July 18th, and surrender their fishing licences by September 12th. Failure to meet the deadlines will see the next vessel on a reserve list receiving an offer.
The scheme had been one of the key recommendations of the Government's €600 million Cawley seafood strategy, published in January 2007 but still awaiting implementation in full.
The strategy's author, Dr Noel Cawley, had recommended €66 million for decommissioning as part of a restructuring programme to ensure a profitable industry.
Rising fuel prices and the impact of illegal seafood imports to the EU have since tightened margins considerably within the industry in Ireland.
Fishermen, who have suspended port blockades planned for this month, have called for an extension of decommissioning to smaller vessels.
Crewmen have also called for some clear indication of compensation for them.
The Cawley report recommended that crew should be assisted under "area-based initiatives", given that one of the remits of the European Fisheries Fund is to "maintain and develop jobs in fisheries areas through support for diversification".
