The Minister for the Marine, Mr Fahey, has claimed great success in facing down proposals by the EU Commission for significant cuts in Irish fishing quotas for the coming year. And he has received support from representatives of the Irish fishing industry for negotiating a "survival package" that has the potential to protect the interests of its members. But for so long as the whole negotiating process is riven by various national interests and driven by economic muscle, fish stocks will continue to decline and the long term interests of Irish fishermen will suffer.
It is difficult to fault Mr Fahey for his approach, given the partisan agenda of the French presidency in relation to deep water species and the quota demands being made by other EU countries. One State cannot afford to embrace strict conservation measures for its fishing fleet if its competitors behave like robber barons. There was some positive movement, however, when Mr Fahey secured the agreement of his colleagues to establish stock recovery programmes for cod off the North West coast and for hake in the Celtic Sea. The Commission will begin discussing these proposals at official level tomorrow. Mr Fahey has insisted this new approach to conservation - with fishermen, fisheries officials and scientists working together on a range of responsible management measures - is far preferable to the one-dimensional, blunt instrument approach of cutting quotas.
The average size of certain fish species being caught off the Irish coast, particularly cod and hake, is a clear pointer to an imminent, catastrophic collapse in stock levels. Such a phenomenon occurred off the Grand Banks in Newfoundland, one of the most productive cod fisheries in the world, before stocks crashed there some years ago. In spite of that, Government ministers from EU countries have consistently ignored scientific advice from the EU Commission and set catch quotas above a level that stocks will bear. As a result, we have had the dismal spectacle, year in and year out, of fishery ministers setting lower and lower quotas for whitefish while stocks continue to decline. The Common Fisheries Policy, based on quotas, has demonstrably failed. And a key reason for that failure has been an unwillingness by national governments to enforce quota restrictions in their home ports.
Recently, the Irish fishing industry has adopted a more enlightened approach towards conservation. It has argued for the introduction of technical conservation measures, such as larger mesh sizes for nets, the establishment of nursery areas and limited fishing times, rather than the present - largely ignored - system of quotas. It has also urged the adoption of regional management structures in European waters. These and other issues will be of central importance to Irish fishermen when the EU Commission formally reviews its fisheries policy in 2002. In the meantime, the Minister has bought time and created some space for the Irish fleet by minimising new quota cuts for a range of whitefish; by successfully resisting French efforts to close us out of deep water fisheries for new commercial species and by securing a new tuna quota of 3,158 tonnes. The latter concession will allow the fleet along the South and West coasts to diversify from catching traditional whitefish species.