FIE has urged the Irish Government to support the proposed EU fisheries reforms ahead of tomorrows'' meeting in Brussels. The proposals will reduce the administrative costs for operators and introduce a comprehensive traceability system

While fishermen claim that cod in the Celtic sea are protected by the success of existing conservation measures the truth is that the scientists have been opposing ‘any catch above zero' since 2005. Improved recruitment over two years has been used by fishermen to advocate an increase in spite of the fact that the Marine Institute makes it clear that ‘Celtic Sea cod remains below the desired biomass levels'.

The scale of the by catch problem was illustrated by Kerry Sinn Fein Deputy Ferris this month when he told the Dail that ‘A week last Friday, a trawler fishing off the Kerry coast was forced to dump 2.8 tonnes of spurdog overboard.'

Read our Press Release    |    Read Our Submission   |   Visit our marine pages

NEW - BAD NEWS FROM BRUSSELS - COD QUOTAS IN NORTH SEA UP 30% - COMMISSION RECOMMENDATIONS ON FISH QUOTAS LARGELY IGNORED BY MINISTERS

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Minister of State Tony Killeen, TD,
Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
Agriculture House,
Kildare Street Dublin 2.
10 December, 2008

by email: tony.killeen@agriculture.gov.ie

Dear Minister;

We are aware of the sustained and organized pressure that the fisheries sector is bringing to bear and the opposition of the Federation of Irish Fishermen (FIF) to any reductions in fishing quotas for 2009 and would be most grateful if you and your officials read the attached summary of three key areas;

• Cod in Celtic Sea
• Cod, Haddock, Whiting Fishing Ban off the north west coast in Box VI (6)
• Nephrops.

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FIE has welcomed the Environmental Protection Agency's call for ‘severe measures such as multi-year closures' of Irish fisheries.

The EPA report says that 75% of Irish fish stocks are beyond the biological safe limit for further fishing. It makes it clear that cod fisheries are now in a ‘state of collapse'. The Report shows that Ireland's limited ‘closed areas' for cod since 2000 have not worked and the collapse is continuing.

The Minister must now ensure that the advice of the EPA and the Marine Institute are become Ireland's position during the current fisheries quota and policy debate.

EPA REPORT -  Ireland's Environment 2008  |  Our marine section  

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Friends of the Irish Environment have supported the call by the authors of a new study for more careful use of fertilizers to address the problem of Irish marine ‘dead zones'. Dead zones are caused when massive algal blooms fed from run off fertilizer die and decay, depleting oxygen and creating zones that can not support life.

The study shows that hundreds of regions of critically low oxygen now affect a combined area the size of New Zealand, and that they pose as great a threat to life in the world's oceans as overfishing and habitat loss.

It has identified 20 of the world's 400 marine ‘dead zones' along the Irish coast.

Irish Dead Zones include many of the best known estuaries, such as those of the Barrow, Blackwater, Bandon, Slayney, Suir, and Feale Rivers. Bays include Donegal Bay and Harbours include Castlteownbere, Killybegs, and Dungarven.

Read more.

Irish Dead Zone list

Irish Examiner

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‘What I'm against is quotas', George Bush has explained. ‘I'm against hard quotas, quotas that basically delineate based upon whatever. However they delineate, quotas, I think, vulcanize society.'

Read the latest round - a debate in the Irish Times with the chief executive of the Irish Fish Producers Organisation. New EU figures now show the percentage of exploited stocks in the EU waters has risen in the last year from 80% to 88%.

Read the debate about quotas.

And visit our marine section and to read about the inshore destruction...

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Environmentalists warn over relaxing fishing controls
Call for Marine Protection Areas

As Irish fishermen meet with Ministers Smith and Killeen, Friends of the Irish Environment [FIE] has written to the two Ministers and urged them  to heed the advice of its own Marine Institute.

FIE claims the message from the scientists is clear:

"the closure of the fisheries for the species at risk provide the highest probability of recovery for these species and is the ONLY advice possible in the context of the precautionary approach".

The fishermen's demand for payment for retiring boats Boat does nothing for the environment. The removal of these vessels will merely increase the quotas available to the more modern competitive fishing vessels.

FIE is urging the Ministers to adopt the best scientific advice and establish effective marine conservation areas where all fishing is excluded at all times. Easily enforced, this way forward allows fisherman to harvest the upwelling of fish that spill out of these highly productive areas and yet the stocks are protected from over-exploitation.

Listen to the debate between the fishermen and FIE on RTE's Morning Ireland news.

Press release

Letter to Ministers

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The environmental lobby group Friends of the Irish Environment has responded strongly to the Federation of Irish Fisherman's call for the reduction of penalties for illegal fishing.

The Chairman of the Federation of Irish Fishermen Michael Walsh has claimed that ‘fishermen are being pursued like criminals and risk prosecution for trying to make a living' because of the ‘minefield of legislation'.

FIE claims that under the previous legislation Irish fishermen were apprehended breaking EU laws 138 times in 2005 but were fined just €417 on average.

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The Government's rescinding of the Cockle Regulations for Waterford today has been welcomed by FIE, who had submitted a report on the subject recently to Minister Eamon Ryan and the European Commission. 

The situation in Waterford is only the tip of an iceberg. Inland fisheries for all of these species - cockles, razor clams, scallops, and whelks - are all seriously over fished and the current harvest is unsustainable.

The Government must review the licensing procedures as a matter of urgency, particularly in areas designated under European law for the protection of birds who rely on these food sources for their survival.

Read our report.

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After  the Dundalk Cockle fishery crashed in 2004  through over fishing the dredging boats redirected their efforts to other cockle beds such as those in the South East of the country - and particularly now Waterford.

The Minister for Communications Energy and Natural Resources signed a Statutory Instrument permitting this without an 'appropriate ecological impact assessment' - even though this is required under the Irish Habitats Regulations and EU case law [‘Waddenzee' case C-127/02].

The Irish Regulations were signed on 21st July 2007 but they can be set aside by either house within 28 sitting Dail days. Attempts to raise this matter in Dail debates have failed and the Minister who signed the Order - Eamon Ryan, TD - has now referred FIE to the Minister for Agriculture!

Click Here To Read Our Fact Sheet

And contact your TD - LoCall phone the Dail switchboard

on 1890 337 889 and ask for your TD - NOW!

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