Two years ago the then Minister for the Marine, Mr Frank Fahey, claimed a great success in facing down proposals by the French presidency that would have given the bulk of new quotas for commercial deep-water species to its own and Spanish fishermen. But the proposals didn't die. Instead, they were taken over by the Spanish presidency and put back on the EU agenda.
When they came up for discussion yesterday Ireland secured a reasonable quota allocation only when the Minister for Communications and Natural Resources, Mr Dermot Ahern, agreed to the massive expansion of overall catches for these very slow-growing fish.
The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, made a mistake in dropping the title of "Marine" from the new Department of Communications and Natural Resources. It sent the wrong message to the European Commission and to those EU States which have been casting avaricious eyes on our sea-based resources. It also damaged the morale of our own fishing industry, when the Government was seen to treat it as an optional extra. In reaching its decision, the view in Government appeared to be that Brussels was now firmly in control of fisheries policy and that the work of the Department of the Marine was largely administrative. Defending his decision, the Taoiseach said a full-time junior minister would be given responsibility for the portfolio next week.
What is clear at this stage is that the EU Commission is not in control of fisheries policy. That policy is being dictated by those States with the largest fishing fleets, such as Spain, France and Portugal. They have most to lose as the stocks of major white fish species sink near the point of collapse. And they have managed to secure the bulk of quotas for new target species, such as orange roughy, black scabbard and grenadier, which breed in the deep waters off our coast. In past years, the EU Commission funded an expansion of the Spanish fleet, in particular, on condition that the boats would fish the waters of Third World countries off Africa, and along the coasts of North and South America. Those fisheries are being gradually closed to them because of their rapacious behaviour. And the boats will be coming home.
In all of this, Ireland - because of a lack of Government commitment - is losing out. The Common Fisheries Policy, based on quotas, has demonstrably failed. Each year, with depressing regularity, the EU Commission allocates catch quotas that exceed their scientific advice. And, each year, the various fishing fleets breach those catch quotas. The Irish fishing industry has argued that reforms now underway should include technical conservation measures, such as larger mesh sizes, limited fishing times, regional management structures and the establishment of nursery areas.
Reducing fleet sizes hasn't worked. Radical conservation measures are required from the Commission to prevent the crash of major commercial fish species.