“Some Facts About the Sea Fisheries Bill”

Since the Sea Fisheries Bill was first proposed in 2005 the media has been spoon-fed a series of spurious justifications for this inequitable and heavy-handed Bill. Lets look closely at these justifications:

Firstly we were told that failure to introduce the Bill would expose Ireland to heavy fines from Europe. This is completely illogical as we already have the highest fines for Fisheries Offences in Europe. The EU Commission in several of their EU Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) Scorecard Reports acknowledges this fact. The case of France being fined €20m has been much quoted as an example of this but it is completely irrelevant as it relates to a case dating back to 1991 and refers to inadequate enforcement by France of existing legislation. The most recent CFP Scorecard shows that Minister Dempsey’s Department has failed to properly adhere to existing EU reporting requirements. The Report shows that among other failures the Ministers Department has failed to send in the required Report on fishing effort in 2002, 2003 and 2004. This begs the question - "Will these administrative failures result in Ireland being fined by Brussels?"

Secondly, we were told that it was unconstitutional to introduce administrative penalties for fishery offences. However, when the Joint Oireachtais Committee received independent Legal Advice they found that this was not the case at all and that even within the same Department administrative penalties were already in existence. The EU Fisheries Commissioner, Joe Borg, is on record as stating that he favours a system of administrative penalties over criminal prosecutions for minor offences. 86% of fisheries offences in Europe are dealt with in this way.

In the UK last week the Fisheries Minister launched a 12-week consultation process aimed at introducing administrative penalties from £200 to £2,000 for minor fishery offences. The main objectives quoted in their consultation document for introducing a system of administrative sanctions is to improve enforcement by providing a means of sanctioning which, in comparison with the existing system could:
• be applied more rapidly and effectively
• increase transparency
• reduce costs and uncertainty for fishermen
• effectively decriminalise some infringements
The UK Prime Ministers Strategy Unit in 2004 issued a report "Net Benefits" which stated "Criminal penalties should be reserved for persistent and extreme ‘criminal’ behaviour. For the rest the imposition of administrative penalties...would be a sufficient deterrent".

Why is Ireland the only country that is criminalising its fishermen?" We are totally in support of measures that support the conservation of fisheries resources, as sustainability of fish stocks is critical to our future. At this moment there is a fleet of factory-trawlers off the Irish coast discarding thousands of tonnes of fish. In addition, the total value of fish that is taken from Irish waters each year by foreign fleets is estimated at €2 billion. These issues seem to be ignored by both the Minister and the media. If conservation of fish stocks is the Ministers primary objective then surely all fleets and all conservation issues should be receiving the same attention.

13th February 2006