The Irish South and West Fishermens Organisation participated today in a Joint Oireachtas Committee hearing on the proposed Sea-Fisheries and Maritime Jurisdiction Bill 2005. The hearing included submissions from fishing industry representatives from Ireland and other EU member states, Minister Pat “the Cope” Gallagher and a representative from the European Commission.

Jason Whooley, manager of the IS&WFO, had this to say after the hearing, “We have been pushing for a long time to get a debate aired on the issue of how fisheries offences are handled and we were very pleased to get the opportunity today for a full hearing on it. In our submission we highlighted the enormous discrepancies that exist between our penalties here in Ireland and those imposed on fishermen in other EU countries. This was backed up by the submission from a French industry representative. At present fishermen here are criminalised for attempting to make a living and we have by far the highest level of fines in the EU. Almost 90% of fisheries offences in the EU are dealt with by administrative sanctions yet this proposed new Fisheries Bill contains no provision for using such sanctions. Instead it proposes to increase fines and introduce new powers to further punish fishermen. Even the European Commission representative in his/her submission today supported the use of administrative sanctions over criminal proceedings.”

Mr Whooley added “Throughout Europe there is a move towards a more consultative approach to fisheries management through bodies such as the Regional Advisory Councils. We believe that today was a good example of this consultative approach in action. After this useful debate we are hopeful that the Bill will be restructured to reflect our concerns.”