There is a mixed reaction to the new Brexit Voluntary Decommissioning Scheme for Ireland’s Whitefish fleet, which was announced this week.
Up to €60 million in direct payments is to be paid out to restore the viability of the remaining fleet and target the voluntary decommissioning of vessels with total capacity of up to 8,000 gross tonnes and 21,000 kilowatts.
Vessel owners will be offered a premium of up to €12,000 per gross tonne. This will comprise a basic premium of €3,600 per gross tonne and a catch incentive premium of up to €8,400.
Marine Minister Charlie McConalogue TD said: “In line with the Recommendations of the (Seafood) Taskforce I am also requiring that owners of vessels who choose to participate in the scheme must ensure that crew working on their vessel are compensated for their loss of livelihood following the decommissioning of their vessel.” The scheme provides for a payment by the vessel owner to the crew member for each year of service in the fleet, up to a maximum of €50,000 for a crew member who had worked in the fleet for 40 years.”
However, Sinn Féin spokesperson on Fisheries and the Marine, Pádraig Mac Lochlainn TD has described the scheme as a “tragic blow”.
Teachta Mac Lochlainn said the scheme will reduce the size of the Irish fishing fleet by another 60 vessels and take the size of the offshore fleet over 18 metres to about one third of what it was in 2006 (280 down to 100).
Teachta Mac Lochlainn said: “Every single day our fishermen have to sit back and watch the hoovering up of massive volumes of fish from our own waters and then transported back to various European fishing ports.
“Decommissioning will be accepted by some in the industry that have been broken by bureaucracy, inequality and unfairness from the unjust Common Fisheries Policy, and facilitated by a Department of Marine and successive Irish Governments that have been unwilling to stand up and fight Ireland’s corner.
“Even at this late stage, I would appeal to the Minister for the Marine, Charlie McConalogue, and his Department to seek to amend this scheme to one where retirees could pass on their entitlements, (tonnage and horsepower) to young fishermen.
“To do anything else is to just wave the white flag of surrender rather than to fight for what is right, a fair share of the fish in Irish waters for our own fishing communities.”
