Mr. Ciaran Doherty:

As the committee can see from all the people speaking online and around the table today, everything that has been happening to our industry as a result of the Brexit fallout has been negative. It is coming home for people like us to see. As well as being Chair of the KFO, I speak for a lot of people in the KFO. I am a fishing boat owner as well. For the first time in 30 years, we have not fished in the autumn. This is the reality of Brexit coming home. We have not retained our crew for this time of year for the first time. My father was in charge before me so some crew members are on board for 40 years and they have no employment. This is the reality of Brexit. Last week Ursula von der Leyen came to Ireland and to the Dáil. I am not taking away that the European project has been good for Ireland but as a fisherman, it has not been good for Ireland. It has not been good historically, but even more so in the Brexit fallout. Did anyone from the Government approach Ursula von der Leyen to put across our disgust at what happened in the Brexit negotiations?

Were any questions asked about whether there would be burden-sharing going forward? If those questions were not asked, it goes to show where we stand as an industry. Before the EU-UK Trade and Co-operation Agreement, TCA, relating to Brexit was agreed in December 2020, the European Fishing Alliance had a red-line issue to the effect that no matter what happened in negotiations, every country would share the responsibility and burden equally. That did not happen. Basically, we were thrown under the bus. There are opportunities for the European Union to redress that, for example, through the quota relating to blue whiting, a matter to which previous speakers referred. Let us not forget: the stock of the 1.3 million tonnes that will be caught next year spawns in Irish waters. Under relative stability, Ireland could be looking at getting 50,000 tonnes of that. Ireland gets 50,000 tonnes out of 1.3 million tonnes, yet countries where this fish never swims in their waters will get far greater quotas than us. Something is wrong with the whole project as regards Europe when that is the way in which we are being dealt with. The most valuable stock in the north Atlantic is mackerel. We are giving away 21,000 tonnes while Denmark is giving away 280 tonnes. Where is the fairness or the level playing field in that regard? They are non-existent. What is being done about this? I hope there will be some good news next week, but it will be small. We are not a fishing industry; we are a firefighting industry. All we seem to do is try to tamp down the bad news that is coming. There never seems to be any good news. Any wee bit we get takes a lot of fighting for on behalf of the industry.

The other issue in the north Atlantic is the 55% overfishing of mackerel by the Norwegians; they are still fishing it as we speak. The Norwegians have been fishing it since June. It is December and they are still targeting them, trying to catch it to show that they can get it in their waters. That is disgraceful. We talk about and the Minister spoke earlier about maximum sustainable yield, MSY. Yet, like most of the pelagic fleet in Ireland, my vessel has been tied up since the beginning of April. It will not go out to fish until January. That will be the trend from now on unless something changes dramatically. We are fishing three months of the year and tied at the quayside for nine. It costs money to be tied to the pier. One has to keep the engines running, etc. While we are tied up for nine months of the year, every other nation is having a Klondike. We used to hear about the gold rush in America; there is a mackerel and blue whiting rush in the north Atlantic that nobody is speaking about. They are not speaking to the right people to stop it. The European Union is sitting on its hands. It is not doing the job in respect of these coastal states or using the tools and mechanisms it could to stop them. The EU can easily lay down regulations that we have to adhere to, but it does not seem to do the same to the nations whose boats fish the north Atlantic. There is a gold rush in the north Atlantic in the context of the amount of mackerel being caught there. Let us not forget that 12 years ago, some of these countries had zero entitlement to that mackerel. There has been a smash and grab. Not alone were they not satisfied with what they were taking up to two years ago, they have now doubled it. The result of that will be quota cuts down the line on the back of scientific advice. Who will be the loser? It will be Ireland. We are the biggest losers in everything caused by their behaviour. I would like to put that on the record for the benefit of members and the Chair.