Brussels approves plan to fund scrappage of trawlers

The European Commission’s plan to encourage some Irish trawler owners to scrap their fishing vessels has been described as “a necessary evil” by Irish fishing organisations.

The commission has approved a €80 million Irish scheme that would help owners badly affected by the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union to quit the industry. In order to qualify for the grant, which will be calculated on the gross tonnage of the fishing vessel, owners will not only have to stop fishing, but also to surrender their licence and scrap their boats.

“This a necessary evil,” said Sean O’Donoghue, the chief executive of the Killybegs Fishermen’s Organisation.

“We expected this decommissioning announcement to be official months ago but I have yet to see the detail in what is being proposed,” he said, adding that he believed that up to 50 trawlers could be scrapped. The grant will be worth approximately €3,600 per tonne.

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Every qualifying trawler will also get a grant linked to their past catches, worth up to €8,400 per tonne, but it will be weighted in favour of those who have fished for under-pressure stocks. “We are reluctantly welcoming this announcement but we will need to examine the proposal in microscopic detail before we know exactly what is on offer,” Mr O’Donoghue said.

Some of the grants will have to shared with trawler crews, and crews will also be able to claim some tax reliefs.

The measure will be partly financed by the Brexit Adjustment Reserve, which was established to mitigate the economic and social impact of Brexit.

“We will examine the proposal carefully because unfortunately we have learned that the headlines don’t always match what is on offer,” Mr O’Donoghue said.

‘It also has to be remembered that this decommissioning is a river of no return that cannot be reversed.’

Sinn Féin spokesman on fisheries and the marine, Pádraig Mac Lochlainn described the move as “another tragic blow to our fishing and coastal communities”.

“The intentional and managed collapse of our fishing industry is truly shocking for an island nation that should be maximising the immense and precious resource for our people from the seas around us.”

“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,” he added.

The scheme will run until December 31st 2023 with aid granted to Irish-registered vessels owners in the form of a direct grant to compensate them for ceasing their fishing activities.