FISHERMEN WORKING at sea are going through hard times. Not only is it one of the most dangerous occupations, it can be physically exhausting and only marginally profitable.
The catching capacity of the Irish fleet increased rapidly in recent years but fish stocks declined and EU fishing quotas failed to keep pace. A crunch point was reached when boats were unable to pay their way. In recognition of this, the Government introduced a €16 million decommissioning programme for shellfish and whitefish boats in 2005. It is now spending a further €58 million to ensure that those fishermen remaining in the whitefish sector can look forward to good economic prospects.
Recently, fishermen's organisations criticised the newly established Sea Fisheries Protection Authority (SFPA) for issuing "insulting" advertisements and misleading information about the level of law-breaking within the Irish fleet. It represented something of a pre-emptive strike in an effort to prevent too rigorous enforcement of the law. In the past, when enforcement was a matter for government agencies, a blind eye was sometimes turned. The authority, however, is independent of government and says it will continue to deter illegal activities by a minority of fishermen.
Where livelihoods are being lost and an industry is in trouble, tensions can be expected to develop with regulatory authorities. What makes the situation even more fraught is the fact that the bulk of fish caught in Irish waters are taken by foreign-based trawlers. Unhappy Irish fishermen have traditionally complained that our protection agencies do not concentrate enough attention on other EU boats, the inference being that their activities are of minor interest.
Illegal activity has become endemic within the EU fishing industry. Falsified catch records, the landing of undersized fish, illegal nets, disguised fish holds, breaches of quota, faulty documentation and a range of other offences have all contributed to a sense of "the devil take the hindmost". With catch levels dropping by as much as 40 per cent over a 10-year period, over-fishing is a major problem.
The SFPA is responsible for food safety within the industry as well as for law enforcement at sea. The activities of unscrupulous middlemen, who buy illegally caught fish for processing, should receive greater attention. Without them, desperate fishermen would not be tempted to break the law. It is in the interests of all fishermen that illegal activity be eliminated. Action should be firm and even-handed across EU states.