Boost For Clare Fishermen With Increase In Mackerel Quota

0:00It's a very significant boost in the fishing opportunity, particularly for those that fish for macro, which is mainly off the western seaboard of Ireland, the west and the northwest. We've succeeded in getting the allowable catch increased from 174,000 tonnes up to 299,000. And for that means, from a European perspective, it is a significant increase in the availability of fishing opportunity. And from an Irish perspective, it gives us an additional 8,000 tonnes. The fishing sector has faced over the last number of years, and particularly this year, some very significant negative headwinds. And you include in that now the uncertainty from the war in the Middle East and the impact that it's having on the price of fuel. So this is a positive outcome. It's positive from the fishermen's perspective in the forced instance, but it's also very positive because it's an extra 8,000 tonnes of macro that would

1:01be processed in our processing factories in the coastal communities. That helps to stabilize jobs. It puts money into the local communities, and therefore it's a very welcome development. It's something that's hard for us. We've been working on it over the last number of months, and I'm very pleased with the support that I have gotten from other member states and trying to achieve this situation. Ireland has a very significant part of the overall European quarter for macro. We have over 50% of the shares, so any improvement in the European part of the quarter would benefit Ireland to a greater extent. And therefore it was important to have the support of other countries in our efforts there. And while this is relatively good news story, and it's been welcomed by the seafood, Ireland lines, they have also said that while this will bring short-term stability, it does not resolve long-standing quota imbalances and claims that the Irish fleets are still facing lots of more than half of their quotas from last year, following

2:04earlier cuts. So look, it's a small beton, but I'm sure you'll acknowledge a lot more today. No, no, I absolutely agree. While this is a welcome development, it by no means resolves the crisis in the fishing sector. It's a significant win at a very difficult time, but of course there's continued work to be done. We expect later this year that there will be a review of the common fisheries policy. There's opportunities there for Ireland to improve the loss of fishermen and women in Ireland, and obviously we'll be working with other like-minded states to try to achieve some positive outcomes there. But I do recognize that there are very significant problems in the sector, and we must continue to work with them. And as you know, I established earlier this year a task force to deal with the fallout from the quotas caught generally across the fishing sector. That work is underway, and I'm hopeful that it will report later in the year, hopefully by the end of June, and we'll be looking at a package of measures

3:09to support all aspects of the fishing sector. Both the smaller, inshore fishermen who are the key part of our mix up to 80 percent of our fishermen are small-scale, fishermen based inshore with relatively small boats, but the bedrock of those coastal communities providing employment to those communities, and therefore we really need to continue to work with all sectors of the industry.