Marine move to Transport causes upset

Opposition deputies claimed that an "ongoing feud" between Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources Noel Dempsey and his Minister of State Pat "The Cope" Gallagher had been resolved by taking a "large chunk, namely the marine part" of the department out of Mr Gallagher's hands.

Labour's spokesman Tommy Broughan claimed the department was being "cannibalised" following reports that Transport would assume responsibility for the ports, maritime safety, search and rescue and marine surveying from January 1st.

He raised the issue as the Sea Fisheries and Maritime Jurisdiction Bill was introduced in the Dáil yesterday. Mr Broughan claimed the Bill was being rushed through without proper consultation of the stakeholders. "Cannabilisation" of the department was "regrettable and retrograde" and "casts an outrageous, appalling slur on the marine community".

Mr Gallagher told the Dáil he would set up a "new independent executive as a regulatory body vested with the statutory responsibility for the control and enforcement of the Common Fisheries Policy".

Fine Gael's marine spokesman John Perry claimed the Bill itself was an "inappropriate, ill-judged and a one-dimensional approach to the management of our valuable fishing resources". He said the Bill had been "hijacked" and it was a "totally different Bill to what was needed". But Mr Dempsey said the Bill had been before the Marine committee before publication, and it was necessitated by several Supreme Court decisions which had seriously affected Ireland's ability to implement European common fisheries law.

Chairman of the committee on Communications, Marine and Natural Resources Noel O'Flynn was equally critical of the Bill, whose measures aim to consolidate existing sea fisheries law, but which fishing communities claim discriminates against Irish fishermen.

Mr O'Flynn believed the coastal fishing communities should be allowed to "survive and thrive". He was concerned, however, that "what will be enacted in this legislation will not be fair and proportional. In my reading of it, I do not believe the department is adhering to the proportionality principle." But he welcomed Mr Gallagher's promise to remove a provision of the Bill "on the use of force against fishing vessels".

The Minister said "fishing without a licence must be regarded as a particularly serious offence and the level of fine proposed in the Bill reflects this severity". The most serious offences including vessel capacity would incur fines of €200,000, he said but Mr Perry claimed the average fine in the EU was €4,000.

Mr Broughan had fundamental difficulties with some provisions including the level of fines and penalties and "the lack of consistency with our EU partners".

Sinn Féin's marine spokesman Martin Ferris said there was "virtually unanimous opposition" across the fishing sector, which was outraged by some provisions. He added that fishermen did not believe they should "bear the major part of the responsibility for stock management.

But Green Party spokesman Eamon Ryan supported the Bill because "we must address what is one of the worst and largest environmental scandals in this country and Europe, namely the depletion, collapse and pillage of our fish stocks".