“Irish South and West welcome fisheries deal”

The Irish South and West Fishermen’s Organisation (IS&WFO) have welcomed the fisheries deal brokered by Minister Pat “the Cope” Gallagher, in Brussels, in the early hours of this morning. The deal sees quota increases in prawns (10%), monk (5%) and hake (3%) in the South-West area. There were quota decreases in megrim (-5%) and whiting (-8%). According to Manager of the IS&WFO, Jason Whooley, “ In quota terms this is a successful outcome, we are seeing increases in three of our most commercially valuable species, prawns, monk and hake. At every December council, you expect to have some quota cuts, thankfully, the cuts are minimised on this occasion”.

Outside of the quota issues, there was considerable progress made on key conservation measures. The IS&WFO have been strongly campaigning for action on deepwater gillnets. The Organisation believes that these nets are devastating fish stocks off the Irish coast. The issue was raised forcefully by the Organisation with the EU Commissioner, Joe Borg on his recent visit to Ireland. Jason Whooley added, “We are delighted with the outcome on this matter. A ban is proposed for this gear outside 200m from Feb. 1st. Without doubt, this will help conserve fish stocks such as monk and hake. We will be paying very close attention to the operation of this ban in the new year. Mr. Borg has taken our concerns on board and delivered as he indicated during our recent meeting”.

The Industry initiative to close 4,500 sq miles of fishing grounds off the Irish and UK coast was also ratified. “This will have major conservation benefits for a variety of fish stocks, thankfully, unlike last year, the industry proposal has been accepted without any derogations”. Mr. Whooley paid tribute to Minister Gallagher and his team of Officials, “ Minister Pat “the Cope” Gallagher’s knowledge and expertise has been critical in brokering this deal, his experience of the sector has made a huge difference. We also had a very experienced team of Officials and collectively they have ensured that we have had a successful outcome to this council”.

22nd December 2005