Mr. Eddie Sheehan:

I thank the Chairman and members for the opportunity to make this presentation. I will deal with fishing in general rather than inshore fishing, but the problems are more or less the same in both sectors.

My background is in fishing. I left school at 16 and went to sea. I spent most of my time at sea and I am still very much involved in the fishing industry both inshore and offshore. The review of the CFP, in the IFO's estimation, is the final chance we have to rectify the wrongs of the past. Ireland's share of its own resources gets smaller and smaller each year. In the last CFP review the EU's plan to conserve stocks was to impose strict quotas on all stocks and throw back the dead fish into the sea. The same people who have rigidly enforced the plan of dumping dead fish for the past ten years have now come up with a new plan of no discards.

This idea is much better and would be supported by most fishermen but no thought has been put into how the system will work. We have fish such as mackerel, herring, horse mackerel, etc., but 80% of the Irish fleet and particularly the inshore fleet has no quota for these species and one is bound by law to discard it. At certain times of the year some whitefish vessels get large shots of boar fish which are a nuisance to inshore boats and have to be discarded for safety reasons. Again no thought as gone into this. I believe the discard plan will have a serious impact on the fishing industry in general but, in particular, on the inshore sector.

A viable whitefish industry is vital to sustain rural communities such as Castletownbere, Union Hall, Dingle and so on. At present our monthly quotas for all species are too low and Government policy appears to be to get more foreign vessels landing here, which we have no objection to so long as we can have a profitable sector. The price of fish is at an all-time low. We deserve a better deal than we got. This is the last chance for the Minister to do something for us in the CFP review.

I appreciate the Minister has a busy schedule with negotiations on the CAP and the CFP. However, there is a massive difference between the two. The CAP is mostly about subsidies to sustain farming life in rural areas while the fishing sector is not seeking subsidies but rather to have a realistic future and an increased quota. In key species our average quota is between 7% and 8% whereas France has quota closer to 50%. In this day and age that is unrealistic.

In recent years the Irish inshore fleet has implemented several measures to enhance conservation. To stop catching juvenile fish we put in place square mesh panels and increased the mesh size. Unfortunately, at the December Council there were quota cuts in species such as monk, megs and haddock whereas we had expected to be rewarded for the conservation measures put in place.

This year our valuable tuna quota in the south west has been reduced to 2,300 tonnes from a high in 2009 of 7,200 tonnes. A good deal of money was spent by inshore boats both in controlling and in pelagic with a view to making a living from this fishery but again that has dwindled.

Most of the crews on the whitefish fleet and the inshore fleet are made up of non-nationals because the job is not sufficiently attractive for Irish crews to get involved. The fishing industry is unique in that the profession cannot be learned in school or college and has to be learned first hand. If, as has happened for a number of years, the younger generation is not going into the industry, it will die and we will be preserving stocks for nothing.

In the inshore sector a ban was imposed on commercial salmon fishing approximately ten years ago as it was considered that commercial fishing would wipe out the salmon. The salmon was the lifeblood of inshore fishermen. Following the imposition of the ban no investigation took place to ascertain whether the ban made a difference. Ten years on, some form of investigation should be carried out to determine what impact, if any, the ban on commercial salmon fishing has had on the industry.