Seanad debates
Thursday, 26 January 2012
Agriculture and Fisheries: Statements, Questions and Answers
We were rightly questioned about the fishing industry. We are looking at ways in which we can add value to the product. Traditionally, fish have been caught and exported more or less intact as a commodity. We are now looking at ways in which we can add value, get more fish, grade it, process and package it and redesign it for the Irish consumer. Last year we spent €2.5 million through BIM to leverage €10 million of expenditure in the fish processing sector and we created many jobs in doing that. We will continue that into this year. We are looking at ways in which we can get non-Irish boats to land in Irish ports, in order that we grade and process their fish for them, because that is where the jobs are. Approximately 1 million tonnes of fish is caught in Irish waters each year and less than 240,000 tonnes of those fish are landed in Irish ports. That is not good enough. At a time of increasing fuel prices, it makes more economic sense for trawlers to land their fish close to where it is catching those fish. A great deal of fish is caught close to Ireland. We have the infrastructure and can build on it to deal with an increasing throughput of fish, which I hope we will be able to deliver. BIM is working hard on that.
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