A State compensation plan to cut a third of the Irish whitefish fleet is due to be initiated tomorrow by the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries, Mary Coughlan.
Some €21 million in aid, and tax relief provisions, are being provided for the scheme which is well short of the €58 million signalled by the Government a year ago in its €600 million national seafood strategy.
However, the Minister's department stresses this funding covers the introductory year, and that it is likely to be supplemented - depending on the response to the initiative.
The EU has approved the Government's scheme, which will also be endorsed tomorrow in Dublin by the Minister of State for Fisheries, John Browne.
The scheme was drawn up as a response to the Cawley seafood strategy of January 2007. The strategy report, by former Irish Dairy Board chief executive Dr Noel Cawley, former Killybegs Fishermen's Organisation chief executive Joey Murrin and former Údarás na Gaeltachta chief executive Ruan Ó Bric, recommended significant rationalisation of the existing commercial fishing industry.
At that stage, some 10 per cent of the whitefish fleet over 18m in length had been decommissioned under a previous programme.
Irish waters have been the most productive fishing grounds in the EU, but mismanagement under the EU's Common Fisheries Policy has put whitefish stocks under severe pressure.
The Cawley report, published by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern over a year ago, recommended a more efficient landing and distribution infrastructure and a strong marketing focus, including a "seafood island" identity for Irish produce in key markets. It also recommended a €212 million development programme for aquaculture.
France, Britain, Spain, Germany and Italy currently buy 70 per cent of seafood caught or grown here.
The Federation of Irish Fishermen, an umbrella body for the four main fishing industry organisations, will be seeking a commitment from the Minister tomorrow that all of the objectives in the Cawley strategy will be met, according to its chairman, Michael Walsh.
In a separate development, Mr Browne has announced a programme for harbour and coastal infrastructure projects valued at over €23 million.
This will cover work being undertaken at Castletownbere fishery harbour centre in west Cork.
The investment programme is valued at over €9.5 million this year, with grant aid of €1 million for a shore base for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.