Ireland’s fishing industry is warning that it could lose up to €200 million if quota cuts recommended by scientists are supported by the EU.
The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) has recommended a 70 percent cut to the mackerel quota, 41 percent cut for blue whiting, and a 22 percent cut for the boarfish catch for 2026.
ICES says that its advice to the EU is based on the state of the stocks in the north Atlantic.
But Irish fishers fear the economic impact of those cuts will be stinging.
On Sunday, fishing leaders held an emergency meeting in Killybegs with Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food, Fisheries and the Marine, Timmy Dooley TD.
Following the meeting, Aodh O’Donnell, Chief Executive of the Irish Fish Producers Organisation (IFPO) said Minister Dooley acknowledged the scale of the threat to Ireland’s fishing and processing sectors.
“The Minister pledged to bring the industry’s concerns directly to the Government and present a financial framework for addressing the crisis to them”, Aodh O’Donnell said.
Aodh O’Donnell also said that the minister pledged to fight both these cuts, and what the Irish industry claims is an historic quota imbalance.
Fishing industry leaders called the meeting with Minister Dooley was “constructive”.
But ultimately they know that quotas are proposed by the European Commission and the lobbying at an EU level is set to continue.
Fishing quotas are set at a meeting of EU fisheries ministers every December in Brussels.