I thank the joint committee for inviting us before it to make a presentation on behalf of the fishing industry. The Federation of Irish Fishermen is an umbrella body consisting of the four producer organisations, namely, the Irish South and West Fish Producers Organisation, Irish South and East Fish Producers Organisation, Irish Fish Producers Organisation and the Killybegs Fishermen's Organisation. The federation represents 90% of fishing vessels more than 12 metres in length. The chair, which I currently hold, is filled on a rotating basis.
I wish to refer first to the Cawley report and the Government's seafood strategy which was announced last year. This report is vitally important to the industry. The most important part of the report from our perspective is decommissioning, given that the Irish fleet is over capacity in terms of the available quotas. As quotas have been declining for some time we need to decommission up to 35% of our fleet. A decommissioning scheme was announced by the Minister in February of this year. We are looking for another part of the Cawley report to be implemented, namely, the scheme for vessels under 18 m. Reference is made to such a scheme in the report but it has not yet been announced.
The way we manage our quotas presents a problem. We appear to be the only member state that allocates our quotas on a monthly basis. For example, if a vessel had a quota of a tonne of cod each month but did not catch any cod for the first four months of the year and caught 1.25 tonnes of cod in May it would be outside the law. We need a more flexible system that addresses the issues of the industry and which would allow us to operate our quotas more efficiently in a way that is relevant to the fleet we operate.
The future financial commitment given by the Government in the Cawley report is vitally important to the federation, as is the implementation in full of every element of the report over time. A total of €295 million was announced by the Government, comprising public and private funding, to cover the areas of sea-fisheries, marketing and training. The sum of €66 million from that fund is for decommissioning. I cannot stress enough to the committee the importance of meeting those objectives in order for us to have a sustainable and profitable industry in the future.
One of the major issues being pursued by the federation at the moment is very controversial, namely, the Sea-Fisheries and Maritime Jurisdiction Act 2006. The federation and the producer organisations lobbied very hard to have provision made for administrative sanctions within the legislation. Unfortunately we did not get that and this is having serious knock-on effects on the industry with fishermen ending up in court for what in some cases are very minor offences. People have been before the Circuit Court where they incurred high fines and in some cases a criminal record. We have approached the Minister about this and have received a commitment from her to examine the entire issue of administrative sanctions. We seek to have minor offences dealt with outside the Circuit Court.
I wish to refer to control and enforcement and our issues in this regard. The perception in the industry currently in regard to the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority is that there is no culture of compliance. The authority is proceeding with a one-dimensional approach. There is an urgent need for a culture of compliance and for the authority to comprehend and understand the industry with which it is dealing on a day-to-day basis. My colleagues and I are members of a consultative committee and it is vitally important to us that this committee gives full consideration to the input of the consultative committee members. A level playing field in enforcement is vitally important. The authority must be even-handed in carrying out enforcement between Irish fishermen and others using the Irish exclusive economic zone, EEZ.
Control and enforcement has become a big issue with the European Union. The Commission has launched a new consultation paper, in which the Federation of Irish Fishermen will be participating to ensure control and enforcement is stepped up across Europe. It is important that any developments in this area have the participation of the stakeholders. Before any laws are introduced, it is important the stakeholders understand them. It will be far easier to enforce laws if the fishermen understand what they are about.
Ireland is only accountable for approximately 23% of fish caught within the Irish EEZ. Only if enforcement is applied evenly across the EU fleets, and not just the Irish fleet, will the problems be solved.
Our quota management problems go back to 1973 when Ireland joined the EEC and got a poor share of the quota. At that time, the quotas were based on historical rights and Ireland did not have an efficient fishing fleet. Many attempts have been made over the past several years to get quotas increased to suit the current fleet. Unfortunately, under the current EU system the only way Ireland can get a quota increase is if some other member state gave it away.
This issue continues to cause problems for the Irish fleet. It is not in the industry's interest to decommission its fleet. Unfortunately under the current system, we have no option because of the quota situation. We made several submissions to the Cawley report and discussed the issue with the Minister for some time. We are seeking a new quota management system where we can share the quota in a more flexible and even-handed manner. Such a system would allow fishermen to plan for their futures on a better basis than is currently the case. This is predicated on successful decommissioning. If we do not tackle the first problem and reduce the size of the fleet under the current system, it will be difficult to manage our quotas in the future
My next issue concerns scientific advice and the problems encountered with it. For example, scientific advice suggested a reduction in the catches for cod and mackerel in the Celtic Sea and the Irish Sea several years ago. However, fishermen now claim those fish stocks are in abundance. The committee may believe that is what the fishermen's representative will claim. This year, however, there is more partnership between the industry and the scientists and they have picked up on this abundance in fish stocks.
High fuel prices are a major issue affecting day-to-day running of the fleet. While I accept they are here to stay, they are crippling the industry, absorbing an increasing share of sales revenue. Unfortunately, the price of fish does not reflect this. Running costs of a vessel are going up while quotas are coming down but the price of fish has not gone up accordingly. We have taken this issue up with the Minister and are seeking to set up a task force to examine short, medium and long-term measures to address fuel costs. It is a difficult situation as there are only a number of ways we can tackle fuel costs. The European Association of Fish Producer Organisations has put forward a paper to the Commission outlining 19 areas for progress on fuel in the short, medium and long term. Whatever measures are put in place, it is important for us that we are on a level playing field with the rest of Europe, whether fuel for the fisherman is subsidised directly or indirectly.
A big problem for the fishing industry in Ireland — more noticeable since our own quota started climbing — is the amount of foreign imports coming into the country. There is a lot of fish being sourced from other countries. I received a figure yesterday of €1 million per week of foreign imports coming into the country. That keeps the price of fish down, because this fish is coming from countries that have few restrictions on the amount of fish to be landed. For example, we are importing cod early in the year at the same time as our own boats land cod and export it to Grimsby where it is being dumped on the market. This fish is being sold without enough traceability in Irish supermarkets for top prices, and it is having a detrimental effect on the industry.
We raised this issue with the Minister to see if she could look at the tariffs for foreign imports coming into the European Union. We need more information and traceability for Irish fish. The FIF will be looking for the development of some kind of fish awareness to promote Irish fish to the public. We do not think people are eating enough of our own fish. It makes little sense to be exporting fish against imports. It is a major issue for the industry.