Foreign trawler landings
Deputy Ferris raised the scale of landings by foreign trawlers in Irish ports and the loss of added value from processing fish abroad. The Tánaiste said the Brexit transition deal reassures fishermen for now, but future access and landings policy remain negotiation issues.
As regards the commitment in the programme for Government to rural and coastal community sustainability, I refer to the fishing sector, with particular reference to landings made by foreign trawlers in Irish ports. I have been told that the figure for total landings in Castletownbere, in the Tánaiste's county, in 2016 came to €111,000,000, of which 65% or €72,150,000 was accounted for by foreign trawlers. Up to 15 articulated lorries consistently collect fish on a weekly basis to take it out of our jurisdiction to be processed elsewhere. Can anything be done about the added value that would accrue from the construction of a processing plant? Such a plant would be of great benefit to local coastal communities such as Castletownbere, Dingle and others that are suffering.
Comment on this
The agreement made in principle this week on a transition period of almost two years after Britain leaves the European Union has provided reassurance for fishermen in Ireland that their access to United Kingdom waters under the Common Fisheries Policy will not diminish or change during that period. That is very welcome as there was much concern in the fishing community in that regard. We will have to wait and see what will happen after the transition period. That issue will very much form part of the negotiations.
As regards landings made at Irish ports by foreign and Irish vessels, it is important to point out that Irish boats also operate in the sovereign waters of other countries. Approximately 30% of our mackerel is caught in British sovereign territory off the north coast of Scotland. The point about the Common Fisheries Policy is that fleets move within EU waters and there is a mechanism that allows us to set quotas. Therefore, it is not necessarily a bad thing that foreign boats choose to land fish at Irish ports. They could steam elsewhere and land fish at other ports. The key is that we try to ensure Irish boats have the maximum number of fish available for them to catch in a sustainable way.
That is what the Government tries to do every December.