Many key Irish fish stocks are in a critical state, the State's national
marine agency warned today.
The Marine Institute claimed that cod stocks could take up to eight years to
recover even if fishing were to cease immediately.
The institute said it was vital that stocks were allowed to recover if the
Republic's fishing industry was to survive.
The new scientific information in its report will be used as the basis for
negotiations at the European Union Fisheries Council in December.
This meeting will set the amount of fish that can be caught in 2004 and is
critical for the Irish fishing industry.
Fishermen's groups say they are concerned that quotas could be cut, insisting
that any change could drive fishermen out of business.
Dr Paul Connolly, Director of Fisheries Science Services at the Marine
Institute, said fish stocks were running low across the EU and steps had to be
taken to allow numbers to be replenished.
"These are very difficult times for the fishing industry and there are some
hard decisions to be made by managers," he said.
"It is essential that scientists, managers and industry continue to work
together to find solutions."
The report voiced very serious concerns about cod and whiting stocks in the
Irish Sea, while it found stocks of sole were over-fished.
In the Donegal-Rockhall area there were very serious concerns about cod,
whiting and hake stocks, while anglerfish were also over-fished.
There were also very serious concerns about hake, cod and plaice in the Celtic
Sea and to the west of Ireland, while sole were over-fished in that area, the
report added.