Vocal Voices

The European Commission’s plan to encourage some Irish trawler owners to scrap their fishing vessels has been described as “a necessary evil” by Irish fishing organisations.

The commission has approved a €80 million Irish scheme that would help owners badly affected by the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union to quit the industry. In order to qualify for the grant, which will be calculated on the gross tonnage of the fishing vessel, owners will not only have to stop fishing, but also to surrender their licence and scrap their boats.

This time it is the other way around. I recall the news items, all the way through the 80's, when UK trawlers were paid to be tied up most of the year.

25% of UK waters fishing catch reverts to the UK by 2026. Thereafter the negotiations will be annual and I doubt we will stand for more than 50% of our own fish stocks being fished by the EU in the long run.

Ireland is an early casualty in this change. It is ironic really that, just like the UK, an EU country with some of the most extensive fishing grounds per head of population winds up being pressurised to shrink its fishing industry. The Express was doing it's usual crowing about the situation and it took a bit of digging to find a local article about it.

Personally I just feel sorry for the Irish Fishing industry.

Sinn Féin spokesman on fisheries and the marine, Pádraig Mac Lochlainn described the move as “another tragic blow to our fishing and coastal communities”.
“The intentional and managed collapse of our fishing industry is truly shocking for an island nation that should be maximising the immense and precious resource for our people from the seas around us.”
“Every single day our fishermen have to sit back and watch the hoovering up of massive volumes of fish from our own waters and then transported back to various European fishing ports,” he added.

I also feel sorry for the Irish fishing industry over this, but the final sentence in that Irish Times article says it all. I'd also mention that whilst we were in the EU, the UK fishing industry suffered greatly with cutbacks and all the while, the Polish factory ships and trawler fleet hoovered up stocks from the approaches to the English Channel. The beggars were encamped in Weymouth harbour for weeks, they were quite a "tourist attraction" at the time .....
OK, I know you argue "different species of fish" but I never thought we were given a level playing field.

I'll reserve my sympathy for the British fishing industry which was sold down the river in the 1970s and has never recovered.

I always have sympathy for hard working people who have their lives broken by political decisions. Whoever they are. Just as I felt for the UK fishing industry in the 80's.