The EU's annual pre-Christmas fish quotas fight opens in Brussels today, with the European Commission determined to impose serious reductions in next year's catches of key stocks.
The Minister for the Marine, Mr Ahern, sounded a pessimistic note last night as he left for Brussels, warning that negotiations would be "particularly difficult".
He said Ireland believed in striking a balance between conserving stocks and maintaining a viable fishery.
The Minister is due to meet the EU Agriculture and Fisheries Commissioner, Dr Franz Fischler, this morning before the negotiations begin. Apart from cuts in stocks, the Commission is seeking to extend its days-at-sea restrictions on fishing from the north-west, where it was imposed last year, to the Irish Sea.
Industry leaders have criticised the Commission for refusing to give existing recovery plans a serious chance. These involve technical measures, such as gear modifications and closed areas, whereas the Commission prefers the crude days-at-sea regime which ties up vessels for all but 11 days a month.
Mr Sean O'Donoghue, of the Killybegs Fishermen's Organisation (KFO), said yesterday: "Fishermen in Greencastle, Co Donegal, supported closing the juvenile cod stock from last September to next February, and this will work far better than any days-at-sea measure. The Commission doesn't seem to want to give this sort of approach a chance."
The Commission has also discounted an industry-led recovery plan for the Irish Sea. The Minister said he was unconvinced that the Commission's approach took account of the specifics of this area. Nor would it lead to the recovery of cod stocks.
Severe cuts of 15 per cent or more in 17 of 30 key whitefish stocks will be discussed by fisheries ministers, with the heaviest cuts of between 30 and 55 per cent proposed for cod, whiting, plaice and sole. An 8 per cent overall cut in mackerel/herring stocks is also proposed.
Ireland can often benefit from application of the Hague Preference, an agreement reached in 1976 which recognised Ireland's poorly developed industry, but this is under strong pressure from other member-states.