Mr. Michael Desmond:

Ireland's inshore sector accounts for approximately 95% of the Irish fishing fleet. All vessels in the sector are less than 18 m in overall length, with the vast majority of them being less than 12 m. The fishing boats in this sector almost all work within 12 nautical miles of the shore line, with some exceptions due to various factors. The sector currently provides in excess of 50% of employment in Ireland's seafood industry, with each job at sea accounting for seven onshore jobs, including those in processing factories, transportation, ship chandleries, gear manufacturers, marine engineering companies, electronics companies, as well as seafood chefs and waiters in restaurants.

The inshore sector is an integral part of the economy to coastal communities. A combination of unforeseen events within the last four years including the Covid pandemic, Brexit and the war in Ukraine, has brought unprecedented financial hardship to the doors of the families involved in inshore fishing the length and breadth of our coastline. The huge reliance on the shellfish fisheries proved catastrophic when the brown crab and shrimp markets collapsed for a second consecutive year towards the end of 2023. One fishery that could have alleviated some of the pain was the sustainable pollack fishery but to add further misery this became a by-catch-only species after the EU Council meeting in December. The reason for our over-reliance on an income from shellfish stocks is because of previous Government decisions to prevent us from fishing species such as salmon, trout, bass, eel, etc. These fisheries were once the bedrock of rural coastal communities but because of lobbying from angler representative groups and the tourism sector, with no coherent organisation representing inshore fishermen, these vital revenue streams were taken from us, giving us little choice but to rely too heavily on lobster, crabs, shrimp, whelks, etc.

The end of February 2019 brought renewed hope to the inshore fishermen all around Ireland when the then Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Michael Creed, launched the strategy for the Irish inshore fishery sector, which was to run from 2019 to 2023. This strategy set out a vision for the future of the inshore sector to provide a prosperous and sustainable future. It revolved around four main themes: the organisation and profile of the sector; infrastructure and the resources available; the management of inshore resources; and the profitability of the sector. Among the many issues to be addressed through the strategy were the sustainable management of key fish stocks as well as attracting and retaining talent with a view to maximising the potential of the sector to provide support to Ireland's coastal communities. A number of inshore fishermen dedicated a lot of time and effort to this strategy as it was also to include the targeting of financial supports available under the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund to programmes and initiatives where it could be used most effectively.

Bord Iascaigh Mhara, BIM, was tasked by the Department with implementing the inshore strategy, but we have heard nothing since. In last year’s distribution of the Brexit blue economy scheme funds, there was up to €200,000 in individual grant aid from the Brexit blue adjustment reserve fund administered by BIM for camping and glamping and grants for those who wanted to put new engines into a whale watching or eco-tourism boats but not fishing boats. Millions of euro have been spent on various tourism projects in Ireland's coastal communities. While the inshore sector may have benefited to a small extent from the fund, we feel that the sector was left behind to the benefit of other sectors.

Everyone is aware of the unfair and disproportionate division of pelagic fishing quotas at EU level. What is even more difficult to comprehend is the manner in which these quotas are divided amongst the Irish fishing sectors. Mackerel, the most financially lucrative species to the economy, varies in quota allocation between 50,000 and 70,000 tonnes, of which 400 tonnes goes to the entire inshore sector for a hook-and-line fishery, the most sustainable method of fishing on the planet. This equates to less than 1% of the national quota for approximately 95% of the fleet. The herring allocation is not much better resulting in 5% for inshore boats. With the dynamics of the fleet changing, should the quota not also change? The current situation favours a tiny minority, while the majority finds itself continuously discriminated against.

The European coastal states Common Fisheries Policy, CFP, is used as a stick to beat the industry with, yet the one good thing in it for the inshore sector, Article 17, is not implemented by our Government. Article 17 requires member states to allocate fishing opportunities using transparent and objective criteria focusing on social, environmental and economic criteria, including, for example, the use of fishing gear with low environmental impact and reduced energy consumption - in short, the exact opposite to what is currently the case in Ireland. This might have something to do with the fact that NIFA is the only dedicated producer organisation, PO, for the inshore fisheries sector. The Irish Islands Marine Resource Organisation, IIMRO, represents the islands and four separate POs represent the remaining 4% of the fishing industry. Through an inadvertent coalition, a minority of the fleet has become the representative voice of the industry.

When NIFA was formed, nobody could have imagined that a large portion of our time and energy would be spent dealing with the fallout from offshore renewable energy. Our offshore fishing grounds were sacrificed when we joined the EU and our inshore grounds are now being auctioned off to multinational developers. The Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications has stated that Ireland has seven times more sea area then landmass. This must be utilised for the offshore renewable energy industry, yet, so far, the only areas of the sea we have seen designated for wind farms are those closest to the shore that are used by the smallest fishing vessels.

On top of the offshore renewable energy, ORE, fiasco, we are now told that 30% of our sea area is to become marine protected areas, MPAs, with certain marine NGOs calling for a ban on fishing in its entirety within some of these MPAs. Shortly, inshore fishermen will need an MPA of their own within which to work. NIFA fought alongside some environmental NGOs and the majority of the public that partook in the required public consultation necessary for a six-mile limit around these shores a number of years ago. Boats over 18 m in length would work outside of this area and this in turn would lead to increased opportunities for inshore boats. Because of court challenges and legal issues, this has not progressed. It has been almost 12 months since the High Court ruled against it on a technicality and the renewed legislation process on it needs to speed up considerably.

Bluefin tuna are swimming up and down our coast every year with no Irish fisherman able to benefit due to the lack of quota. We urge the Minister to fight for an Irish quota for this species. Because of its high value, it has the potential to alleviate the problems faced by inshore to some extent. Currently, fishing vessels from the far southern hemisphere are travelling to our waters to fish these stocks.

Future threats to our industry include a ludicrous looming bottom trawling ban and the decarbonisation of the fishing fleet. There is an urgent need for financial subsidies to be made available to the inshore sector immediately so that our members among others can play their part, stay afloat and weather the storm. Otherwise hundreds of primary food producers will be unable to continue in this industry. NIFA thanks An Cathaoirleach and committee members for allowing us the opportunity to explain our current dilemma.