Fishing fleet is facing into grim future

The offshore fishing fleet in the Ros a’ Mhíl has more than halved in numbers since 2003 – with fifteen boats extracted from the fleet.

That’s what Sinn Fein Senator Trevor Ó Clochartaigh told the Upper House last week – where he further revealed that, of the fifteen boats have been extracted from the fleet, ten of which were owned by people from the Aran Islands.

Currently, nine Ros a’ Mhíl and Aran offshore fishing boats are licensed; one is not fishing and seven are owned and skippered by Inis Mór fishermen.

Seantor Ó Clochartaigh addressed this ‘unprecedented and alarming’ decline which was also reflected elsewhere along the western seaboard.

“The contraction is particularly alarming for the Ros a’ Mhíl Harbour area, which was the subject of an independent technical report commissioned in 2013 and undertaken by the Ros a’ Mhíl Harbour centre, entitled A Socio-economic Profile of Ireland’s Fishing Communities, he said.

“It stated that, in terms of the number of boat owners per thousand of population, fishing was approximately 20 times more important to the local economy than to Ireland as a whole.

“A 2016 report on the harbour calculated that 92% of annual economic turnover in the Ros a’ Mhíl area relied on the seafood sector,” he added.

Senator O’Clochartaigh said he welcomed the review of the management of the fleet’s capacity and the tonnage that is available to boats.

“A number of issues arise in this regard and fall into two categories – the safety of the boats in question and the viability of the fishermen’s businesses,” he said.

“The number of fatalities and sinkings in the past 20 years is shocking. According to figures with which I have been supplied, there have been 40 sinkings and 30 fatalities in that time.

“Given that the majority of those fishing vessels were under 40 m in length, smaller vessels seem to be more prone to sinking and fatalities,” he added.

In response, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Michael Creed said he undertook a public consultation process on proposals from producer organisations and made available a consultation paper which set out the background to fleet policy and carried out an analysis of the current situation.

The consultation paper examined the implications of the proposals made by the producer organisations and also put forward alternative options.

“The Senator will appreciate that diverse views have been expressed in the context of the consultation process, particularly on the proposal of the producer organisation regarding the 100% capacity requirement,” he said.

“All submissions are currently being examined in detail and they are now available to view on my Department’s website,” he concluded.