Removefiannafail

The Oireachtas Joint Committee on Communications, Marine and Natural Resources was at the country's premier fishing port of Killybegs in Donegal in April 2005,where it emerged that up to 1,000 jobs could be lost in the fishing industry by the end of the year.

The South West Donegal Chamber of Commerce is blaming the management of the new €55m harbour and poor infrastructure for much of the problem which, it claims, is reaching crisis proportions.

At issue are harbour fees, set by the Department of Communications, Marineand Natural Resources, which is responsible for running the harbour. These fees have risen by 500pc in the past two years.

An ongoing fraud, which has resulted in scores of trawlers bypassing Killybegs to off-load their catches elsewhere, is also being investigated.Amazingly history records that back in 1922 Michael Collins himself declared the Killybegs area to be a nest of crooks who would not pay their taxes.! Nothing has changed in the course of a century.!

Meanwhile some of the fishermen are confused ,as Bertie is creating new lobster licences and handing them to those who have already retired and got 50,000 euros for their old licences.!

Frankly so am I.??  It would never happen to the taxidrivers. Read on:

"THE chairman of the West Kerry Lobster Co-op has accused the Department of the Marine of promoting policies that will put an end to inshore fishing.

Seánie Johnson, from Baile na nGall, said he believes the Department is not interested in what fishermen have to say when it comes to stock management. He said the Department's decision to increase the number of potting licenses by more than 50 per cent will force many fishermen out of business.

"I'm trying to get out of this business because of the way the Department have acted and the issuing of the new potting licenses which will have a negative effect on the shellfish industry. I've been fishing for the past 35 years and I see the future looking very bleak," he said.

"We had 1,300 licenses in this country and now that's been increased by 700 more so now we have 2,000 boats fishing for shellfish along the coast. The figures are kind of scary. If you take it that each boat will have 500 pots and multiply that by 2,000 that gives you one million pots fishing along the coast. The stocks aren't there to sustain it. The pots cost €47 each so that's an investment of €47m and trying to get that money back will be difficult," he said.

"The Department didn't consult with us even though we asked them to. A lot of people who got these licences had a licence prior to this but they sold them and were supposed to get out of fishing. But the Department decided to facilitate them again and issued them with new licences. That's the thing that

sticks in people's craws more than anything. Those people might have got €50,000 to get out and now they're back again," he stated.

"The salmon fishing is under threat and I could have survived on shellfish prior to the issuing of these extra 700 licences but now I'm wasting my time. If drift-netting is banned many more vessels, maybe up to 200, will be fishing lobsters and crabs. Potting licences allow you to fish anywhere off the coast of Ireland. The co-op has no control over the fishing grounds. We notched thousands of lobsters to conserve stocks over the past 10 years. Now these people are going to reap the benefits of the co-op's work. A lot of fishermen are totally disgruntled and thinking of packing it all in," he declared.

"The licences have almost all been issued now and the co-ops can't do anyrthing about it. We've pointed out these problems to the Department but they seem to have their own agenda. They don't listen to fishermen. I honestly think that these people in the Department, who are earning big money, will put an end to inshore fishing," Mr Johnson said."

Ted Creedon

© The Kerryman

So what exactly is going on here ??

1. EU fisheries laws were broken 138 times by Irish fishermen in 2005

Irish fishermen broke EU laws 138 times in 2005 but were fined just €417 on average for each serious infringement of the European common fisheries policy.

Some of Europe's biggest fishing fleets paid even lower fines for infringements such as over-fishing, falsifying records and illegal fishing, according to new EU statistics.

Portuguese fishermen paid an average of €122 for each breach of the law, Finnish fishermen paid an average fine of €32, while Maltese fishermen paid no fines.

The European Commission criticised EU states yesterday for failing to implement tough laws to tackle illegal fishing, which, it says, threatens fish stocks.

The commission is concerned there has been a rise in the number of serious infringements to 10,443 in 2005, up from 9,660 in 2004, but there has been a fall in the level of fines.

The average fine imposed by EU states - in those cases where a financial penalty was actually levied - was €1,548 in 2005, down from €2,272 in 2004. The average fine in all the serious infringement cases was €1,038.

The report shows: six of the serious breaches of EU law in Ireland related to the obstruction of fisheries inspectors; 19 involved fishing without a licence;

one involved the deletion of identification marks on a vessel; one involved fishing under false documents; five for keeping on board illegal fishing equipment; six for using prohibited fishing gear; 17 for keeping on board prohibited species; 82 for failing to record or falsifying data in log books; and one failure to comply with EU rules on movement of fishing vessels. The biggest single fine paid in 2005 was €10,000.

Jamie Smyth

© 2007 The Irish Times

The commission's report notes that the Government passed the Sea Fisheries and Maritime Jurisdiction Act last April to increase penalties for breaking the rules. It also announced plans to introduce new EU legislation to ensure that tougher sanctions are put in place.In reality- does anything ever really change in Ireland? Illegal dumping.Illegal quarrying. Illegal fishing. On and on it goes merrily.