The Minister for the Marine, Mr Ahern, has promised a "transparent" new licensing policy for fishing vessels which will also meet the EU legal limits for fleet size, writes Lorna Siggins, Marine Correspondent.
A number of new fishing vessels which have been tied up for months should benefit from the new policy, but it is believed at least two new vessels in the south-west may have to be sold.
Some 30 new boats worth €63 million are due to join the fleet by the end of next year under the Government's whitefish renewal scheme, which was introduced with the twin aims of making the fleet safer and allowing for exploitation of new opportunities.
Issuing of licences has been frozen since earlier this summer, when the European Commission and this Government failed to agree on a system for transferring fishing entitlement, known as tonnage.The Minister consulted the industry to draw up a new policy which would meet the EU requirements, while also satisfying industry demands.
"There will be difficulties in some areas, but overall the new policy is very fair," Mr Lorcan O'Cinnéide of the Irish Fish Producers' Organisation (IFPO) said yesterday. Licensing difficulties, a threatened total ban on cod in the Irish Sea, days at sea restrictions and increased harbour charges have put enormous pressure on skippers and owners of whitefish vessels. A new veterinary inspection charge is also viewed as an additional form of "stealth taxation". The new fleet licensing policy will be handled by a legally independent licensing authority, which also has an appeals system, the Minister says.
The policy's main elements include agreement that replacement capacity will be authorised on a tonne for tonne basis, other than for "limited specified situations", and capacity taken off the register must be re-introduced within two years of its removal.
A policy of segmenting the fleet between whitefish and pelagic (mackerel/herring) vessels will continue, and the capacity of the existing pelagic segment will be maintained at previously EU approved limits.
Issues relating to access to inshore waters, fishing effort regimes and rules for access to pelagic fishing still have to be considered by the Sea Fishing Boat Licensing Review Group, the Minister said.