Business Opinion John McManusA clear sign, if one was needed, of how much things have changed here is that the Government can decide to hand 70 fishermen in the region of €640,000 each for their clapped-out boats and no one seems bothered one way or the other.
That the Government can decide to do this on the basis of a report drawn up over three weeks, while a gun is held to their head by a handful of scallop fishermen, makes the general lack of interest all the more remarkable.
The €45 million decommissioning scheme for older fishing boats, announced by Minister of the Marine Pat the Cope Gallagher last week, was billed as the "the most extensive ever announced by the Irish Government". Its genesis, however, was the blockade last month of Rosslare Harbour and Waterford Port by 19 scallop fishermen from Kilmore Quay protesting at the limitations put on the fishery by EU quotas.
Pádraig White, one of the Taoiseach's private sector trouble shooters, was sent in to solve the problem, which threatened to become a real headache should the blockades stretch through the summer.
White is no stranger to Irish fisheries, having served as chairman of the National Strategy Review Group on the Common Fisheries Policy, and clearly decided that the best way to solve the problem was to wrap it into a wider review of the overcapacity in what is called the white-fish fleet, i.e. boats that fish species such as cod. No doubt Mr White was helped in forming this view by the relevant State agencies and the department.
The upshot of the review is that 25 per cent of the relevant fleet - which numbers just under 1,400 vessels with a total tonnage of around 50,000 tonnes and includes the scallop fishermen - is to be decommissioned in order to allow the remainder access to sufficient fish to be commercially viable.
However, the scheme is restricted to older and larger vessels - 18 metres or over and 15 years of age or older,to be precise. There are only around 200 vessels that fall into this category, which means that in order to hit the 25 per cent reduction target in terms of tonnage, around 70 of these boats will have to be taken out. Based on the total pot of €45 million, this works out at an average of €640,000 each.
It is a large amount of money - not that anybody seems to notice - but the fundamental argument is whether it is good value for the tax payer.
The argument in favour of decommissioning fishing capacity has been won comprehensively decades ago. The logic of compensating individuals who are giving up their livelihoods in order to facilitate wider social, environmental and economic objectives is fairly compelling. The bonus is that most of the €45 million may end up coming from Brussels, rather diluting the impact on the Irish taxpayers' wallet.
But there is one thing about the scheme announced last week that niggles. As White's report makes clear, the majority of the boats that are eligible for the scheme cannot go to sea anyway. The reason for this is that, as of the first of this month, strict new European safety regulations have come into effect and the bulk of the Irish white-fish fleet simply does not past muster. But they will still be entitled to decommissioning payments.
Any small businessman who fails to invest in his business in order to meet the basic safety and other standards set down by the law usually just goes out of business. He does not have his company bought off him at the market price by the Government, who then shut it down.
Fishermen are different its seems. But there is no shortage of arguments that can be made for special treatment, the most obvious being that if the Government had got its act together on decommissioning sooner - before the start of the month to be precise - then all the boats would still have technically been able to fish when the scheme was announced and thus eligible.
Equally, it can be argued that the owners of the boats were not in a position to invest in their boats because the constant reductions in quotas has meant that fishing does not generate the returns on capital required to justify investment.
However, the most compelling argument in favour of the scheme put forward by White is that it is an attempt to finally address the issue of overcapacity in the white-fish fleet, which was going to have to be dealt with eventually. According to White's report, the stocks of white fish would have to be some 30 per cent larger than they currently are for all the fishermen in the fleet to make a living. That simply is not going to happen and, in the absence of some action, the industry would continue to stumble along with overfishing continuing to but pressure on fish stocks.
The militant behaviour of the Kilmore Quay scallop fisherman was, among other things, a sign that time was running out. However, a number of Mayo farmer's currently residing as guests of the state in Cloverhill may wonder why their protests have not lead to such a fruitful outcome.
