Killybegs Fishermen’s Organisation (KFO) CEO Seán O’Donoghue has given what he describes as “a guarded welcome” to the European Fisheries Council talks that concluded in Brussels on 12 December 2023.
O’Donoghue said he was pleased that the talks had “regained some of their raison d’être”, with decisions on many total allowable catches (TACS) and quota between Norway and the UK having concluded ahead of the Council, unlike in the last three years when it had been done in reverse.
Speaking post-Council, he said: “We’ve secured an increase in one of our key stocks, mackerel and while it’s wholly merited and overdue, it doesn’t undo the woeful impact which Brexit has had on our pelagic fisheries with a hit of up to 25% on our bottom line on this stock alone. We’ll therefore continue our campaign of ‘burden sharing’ with gusto whereby all coastal member states share the pain of Brexit equally and proportionally.
“For pelagic stocks, the outcome is predominantly favourable notwithstanding the 9% reduction in mackerel when the Brexit effect is taken into account. We’ve secured a 23% increase in blue whiting, a 20% increase in boarfish, a 20% increase in northwest herring, a 17% increase in albacore tuna and finally a 23% reduction in Atlanto Scandian herring.
“The Commission has also provided assurance that the issue of the massive overfishing of mackerel by Norway and the Faroes in the Northeast Atlantic which is jeopardising the sustainable management of the stock is a priority. I’ve put on record that we are already paying the price with a 5% cut for 2024 instead of a 10-20% increase had the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) advice been followed in recent years.
“Moreover, we’ve reached agreement on a TAC for cod in the northwest area 6a for the first time since 2011 as well as reductions in the balance transfer and access for blue whiting in the EU/Norway agreement.”
O’Donoghue added that for the most part, the news was also positive for whitefish stocks in the northwest with an increase of just over 60% in haddock in 6a. Similarly, the Commission has committed to a change in horse mackerel which will happen if the benchmark for the stock for the first-quarter of 2024 is significantly revised.
The Commission will negotiate directly with the UK on this issue.
But he said the reductions and by-catches for certain whitefish in the Celtic Sea – off the south coast – namely cod, haddock and whiting as well as pollock in the south and northwest is “a significant concern” and will undoubtedly have socio-economic consequences further down the road.
