Sir, - In recent days you have published several articles extolling the virtues of the Atlantic Dawn, the world's largest (at least, for now) fishing vessel, owned by Kevin McHugh of Killybegs.
While the Atlantic Dawn may serve to enrich a few venturesome Irish businessmen, her construction poses a number of problems, here in Ireland but also as far away as the West African coast.
At present, the vessel has no fishing licence: Irish fishing capacity is regulated by a programme adopted by the 15 EU Member States, including Ireland, and there is simply no room to add her to the Irish fleet. Mr McHugh has essentially said to the Irish Government: "I have this boat, please find me some place to go fishing." The Government is negotiating to resolve its predicament, but it is by no means guaranteed that the other EU governments will agree.
The Irish are arguing that there are new fishing opportunities in Mauritanian waters under the EU-Mauritania fisheries agreement, but other EU countries are already fishing there and may not be thrilled to see the arrival of such a massive ship, which would only increase fishing pressure on stocks that are already heavily exploited. One of the major objections of the Greens to current fisheries agreements is that they too often allow EU boats to fish without paying enough attention to the effects on the environment.
Mr McHugh may try to portray his venture as feeding hungry people in Africa but it is not perceived that way locally. Since the stocks that the Atlantic Dawn wants to catch migrate along the West African coast, they are targeted by local fleets and used to feed local people. Artisanal fishermen from the region have protested for years about the fishing activities of EU and other countries; to them, the Atlantic Dawn and other fishing vessels from Spain, the Netherlands and other EU countries represent a threat to their livelihood.
Nor is it only the fishermen who would be affected. The local fishermen have sophisticated networks already developed to market their catch locally and in the interior. This would likely be damaged if vessels such as the Atlantic Dawn land large quantities of fish all at once. - Yours, etc.,
Patricia McKenna, MEP, Molesworth Street, Dublin 2.