Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. As I think this is my first time speaking before him, I wish him every success in his brief.

The EU Regulation, Article 61(1) of the Control Regulation 1224/2009, imposes unrealistic and extreme demands on fishermen and fisherwomen to have all products weighed at the place of landing before being transported, held in storage or sold. This new article imposes severe and undue hardship on inshore fishermen who are already hard pressed to make a living. I will explain what I mean by inshore fishermen. I live in Schull, but the same applies to Crookhaven, Baltimore, Union Hall, and all around the coastline including in Donegal and Wexford where they fish in small boats of between 18 ft. and 35 ft. I believe the fishermen are an endangered species because their catch is getting tighter and scarce. They fish for crab, brown crab, velvet crab, scallop, shrimp, etc.It is seasonal and depends on the weather, and many times their vessels are tied up. Most of these fishermen are part time. One could not make a living full-time doing this work. In my view, Article 61(1) was never intended to target these inshore fishermen. It was intended to target, in some instances, the illegal landing of pelagic fish in large amounts and lots. It has now accidentally spilt over on to these unfortunate fishermen. The cost to fishermen, whether they be in Schull, Crookhaven or Union Hall, of getting a weighing scales to weigh a box of crabs, two or three dozen lobsters, or perhaps a box of shrimp is totally unrealistic. It should be revoked.

Fishermen traditionally trusted the factories and storage facilities. The fish were weighed, and they were paid a fair sum of money for the product they fished, supplied and brought on shore. This new regulation will place a burden on them which many will not be in the position to meet or to take on board financially. It is ludicrous and I ask the Minister of State to convey this message, not alone to the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority, SFPA, which is the enforcer in this country, but also to the European Commission.

As another example, recently in Castletownbere, three large Spanish trawlers landed probably about 100,000 tonnes of pelagic fish. Not one of those fish was weighed. The fish were landed in large refrigerated lorries and transported all the way to Spain. Who is monitoring that? Who is controlling that situation? In my view, there is no one doing so. Unless we wake up and look after the inshore fishermen - I am talking about the small guys or the small women, in regard to their catch, around the coast - they will be put out of business. When that is all gone, we will have people in Schull or Baltimore and in the restaurants throughout the country, who would love to see crab meat, lobster or shrimp on their plate, asking what happened to those fishermen. They have been over-regulated and hounded out of business. As I said earlier, these people are the endangered species, yet the big players, particularly the Spanish and the French who have abnormal quotas, seem to do what they want. I ask the Minister of State to wake up. I know he is here representing the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, who has his own situation in County Donegal. I ask them to give some respect and fair play to these part-time fishermen who are trying to eke out a living. Some of them are on the fish assist scheme, etc. They should not be put out of business.