EU fisheries ministers gather in Brussels next week against a backdrop of discontent within the Irish - and European - fishing industry. What's going on? asks Lorna Siggins, Marine Correspondent
Lenny Hyde remembers last Easter very well. The Co Cork fisherman landed cod on Easter Thursday which fetched €1.50 a kilo on the auction floor. On the Sunday, he went into a local supermarket in Carrigaline to buy grub for the next trip and couldn't believe his eyes. Cod fillets on the shelf were selling at €13.87 a kilo.
Cod is now more valuable than salmon because of its scarcity, but the fishermen who are being blamed for its demise aren't the ones making the money. "It's getting harder and harder to make ends meet," says Hyde, a former chair of the Irish South and West Fishermen's Organisation, who has fished out of almost every port on this coastline. His 20-metre vessel, Heroine, is 30 years old, and he hopes that there is a future in it for his son, Stephen, who works with him.
"My biggest worry would be the effect of the displacement of boats," Hyde says, referring to the restrictions proposed by the European Commission next week. "If they close certain areas, the boats will just move, and Area VII (off the Irish coast) will get hammered. We've seen it happen already within our own fleet."
The European Commission has outlined a compensation package for fishermen to pursue alternatives, including fish farming. "Yes, but you need fish to feed those fish," says Hyde. "The industrial fishing for fishmeal is a disaster, environmentally, but the EU hasn't touched it."
Alan Hassett (42), skipper of the Ocean Freedom in Baltimore, Co Cork, was one of the many fishermen hit hard by last week's closure of four fisheries, due to quota limitations - a closure which was lifted for prawns when Northern Ireland fishermen offered the Republic some surplus.
"The EU should be about compromise, but it seems that whoever puts up the loudest fight gets the biggest share," Hassett says. "At the time of tuna restrictions, the Spanish burned boats, kidnapped a French vessel and terrorised the crew, and the EU responds by giving Spain what it wants - a ban on driftnetting for tuna on so-called environmental grounds."
"In reality, Spain just didn't want the competition from France and Ireland. And the EU gives in to violent means. What message does that give out?" he adds.
Hassett and Hyde both welcome the fact that the Government is much more supportive of the industry - though some critics would say it is a support that has come too late. However, Hassett is critical of industry leaders who called for a "Yes" vote from fishermen in the Nice Treaty Referendum this year.
"We missed our chance to make a protest vote. The EU wants people in, and the more you reject their \ overtures, the more they will listen."
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What's all the fuss about?
European fish ministers normally meet for marathon sessions before Christmas to carve up allocations of stocks among member states for the following 12 months. However, this year's "quota" talks will also be dominated by final discussions on the review of the EU's Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) which will shape "blue Europe" over the next couple of decades.
Isn't a review a good thing?
In theory, yes. The current policy, dating back to 1983, has been described by its own architects as a failure. Fish stocks are in a far worse state than when the policy was introduced, partly due to technological improvements in fishing, but largely due to political lobbying by more influential member states.
Ireland, with 11 per cent of EU waters and some of the richest fishing grounds, should be a major player. Instead, the Republic's fleet has just under five per cent of the total catch, in a deal dating back to our own EU accession when marine was "traded" for agricultural concessions. It is estimated that for every €1 Ireland received in farm subsidies, €2 worth of fish has been caught by other EU vessels in Irish waters since we joined the Community. What's worse, restrictions placed on Spanish and Portuguese vessels in a 50-mile exclusion zone known as the Irish Box may now be lifted, under the "equal access" principle. This could have devastating consequences for our whitefish fleet, which is the backbone of the industry here.
But aren't these Community waters?
Yes, and therein lies the problem. Fish stocks are a renewable resource, which can be managed to support a thriving industry - as countries like Iceland and Norway have shown. It is partly due to the failure of the EU's fish policy that Norway has stayed out of the EU.
Reducing the fishing fleet, as the EU Agriculture and Fisheries Commissioner, Dr Franz Fischler, seems intent on doing, will not reduce fishing activity. The Irish fishing industry, working with the Government, has drawn up a series of conservation proposals as an alternative model. It also argues that recently introduced recovery plans for sensitive stocks such as cod and hake should be given more time to work. Ireland is part of an alliance of southern states - including Spain, ironically - which are united on several key issues, including opposition to limiting the fleets' days at sea, and abolition of State supports to modernise vessels. The Irish Box issue may have been used as a crude tool to try and break that alliance up.
But aren't we only talking about a small sector here?
The official employment figure translates into over 20,000 "fishers" and dependents - not including aquaculture, fish processing and ancillary industries in coastal areas where other economic opportunities are limited or non-existent. Irish seafood exports are running at an annual value of €445 million.
So what should the European Commission be doing?
Promoting regional management and even-handed enforcement of regulations would help. Reducing industrial fishing for low-grade fish material, and banning the "flag of convenience" vessels which register in another member state to avail of the quota there. The EU spends a large proportion of its fishery budget on buying rights from non-EU member states for vessels, at a time when some of these fisheries are said to be near collapse. Ireland now has the 144-metre Atlantic Dawn in this category, and that vessel has also been given an entitlement to fish in these waters which has angered the Irish fleet.
The Commission relies on scientific advice, surely?
Alas, advice is often based on research over a year out of date, and is often "cherry picked" by EU ministers during the annual quota carve-up - hence the term "paper fish", to quote former Killybegs fishermen's leader, Joey Murrin. One positive proposal by the EU Commission is to set longer-term quotas to avoid this, which must respond, if necessary, to up-to-date information.
Environmental factors also have to be taken into account - last year, warm water anchovies were caught as far north as Donegal Bay, for example. There is evidence that cod stocks are migrating north, rather than vanishing.
So what's the real agenda?
Provision of cheap fish for you, the consumer. The Commission's game plan is to have fewer, larger vessels, with little regard for the socio-economic impact this will have on coastal communities. Dr Fischler's predecessor, Emma Bonino, first outlined this vision in an interview with this newspaper in 1996.
Spain is seen as the most efficient "catcher", because it has the largest fleet; its own government is also keen to appease fishing interests in the Basque region. Germany has long been a supporter of Spain on fishing at EU level - and even more so now, with the German rate of unemployment reaching 10 per cent.
Sounds pretty bleak?
The industry has shown great resilience before, and the crisis in agriculture has already led to greater political priority being attached to the marine sector. It will all come down to votes (Ireland has only three out of 87), and which ministers are most alert during a series of sleepless nights in Brussels next week.