Fishing industry representatives have said that the Minister for the Marine, Mr Ahern, "did the best he could" at this week's marathon EU fisheries council in Brussels.
Fisheries ministers sat through the night on Thursday to conclude an agreement which secures an overall 8 per cent increase in Irish quotas but which has extended the "days at sea" regime from the north-west to the Irish Sea. However, the Minister managed to secure a reprieve for the majority of Irish Sea vessels fishing for prawns, in that only those specifically targeting cod will be seriously affected by the measure.
Speaking to The Irish Times on his departure from Brussels, the Minister said that he never agreed with the "days at sea" system, which tied up Irish vessels in the north-west last year for all but 11 days a month as part of an EU plan to protect cod stocks.
However, Ireland was "alone" in its opposition to the proposal. A tactical decision was taken by Irish negotiators to try and soften the impact of the measure by ensuring that those vessels not targeting cod were not penalised - as had happened in the north-west when it was first imposed last year.
"We estimate that 89 per cent of the Irish Sea fleet will not be affected, and that about 11 per cent, or 15 vessels, will be hit by this," the Minister said. Those 15 vessels may be tied up for all but 12 days a month, depending on the type of fishing gear used and the level of cod, sole and plaice catches.
The Commission accepted that a spring closure for cod fishing in the northern part of the Irish Sea could remain in place, and this "quid pro quo" gained Ireland some "extra days" for affected vessels, the Minister said. The application of days at sea on the north-west has also been refined, with a specific link now between mesh size and cod.
Days at sea was not imposed on the Celtic Sea, and the Minister welcomed the introduction of a joint Irish/French management plan in early 2004, and development of management measures in conjunction with new industry regional advisory councils. "This is precisely the kind of trans-national approach which is needed in shared fisheries, and I hope that we will see similar developments elsewhere," he said.
Total Irish quotas for next year amounted to 204,379 tonnes, compared to 189,500 tonnes this year, and the Minister secured 10 per cent of this through application of the Hague preference system, which he managed to retain under threat from other member-states.
Mr Jason Whooley, manager of the Irish South and West Fishermen's Organisation (IS&WFO) and Mr Lorcan Ó Cinneide, chief executive of the Irish Fish Producers' Organisation (IFPO) welcomed significant increases in quotas for monkfish (up 32 per cent), megrim (up 26 per cent) and haddock (up 17 per cent) in the south-west, but Mr Whooley said that the 6 per cent cut in the cod quotas in the Celtic Sea would affect a very vulnerable section of the south-west fleet.
Commenting on the days at sea system, Mr Whooley said that a number of EU states appeared to be prepared to overlook its drawbacks in an attempt to "appear environmentally friendly". Irish fishermen were going to suffer as a result of this approach, he pointed out.
"Thankfully, the Commission's carte blanche proposal was rejected," Mr Whooley said, paying tribute to the Minister and his team for refining the measure.
The Minister's efforts were also acknowledged by Mr Lorcan Ó Cinneide of the IFPO, and by Mr Seán O'Donoghue, chief executive of the Killybegs Fishermen's Organisation (KFO). "We are reasonably happy, but not jumping up and down," Mr O'Donoghue said.
"We would prefer not to have days at sea at all, and we also hoped to get an increase in horse mackerel on the basis of scientific opinion. The blue whiting share-out is also still not resolved."
