I welcome the Minister for the Marine, Deputy Woods, to the House and congratulate him on his change of office and wish him every success. I have dealt with the Minister on a number of matters in his previous portfolio and have found him most helpful and excellent. I have no doubt he will do an equally good job in the Department of the Marine.
I would like Seanad Éireann to request the Minister for the Marine to negotiate with the EC under the Common Fisheries Policy for a better deal for Irish fishermen. We possess 25 per cent approximately of all EC territorial waters, a significant figure, but despite that we have less than 5 per cent of the total fishing quota of the 12 EC states. This is a regrettable fact. For many years the Irish fishing industry was neglected and, coming from a fishing background in west Cork where many people depend on fishing for a livelihood, I know that until about six years ago the Department of Fisheries played second fiddle to the Department of Agriculture. It was the poor relation.
It is widely known and recognised that the Irish fishing fleet and Irish fishermen are severely disadvantaged vis-a-vis their European counterparts. I urge the Minister to carry out an ongoing review of Irish fishing. In industry it is estimated to cost in the region of £30,000, and in some instances more, to create one industrial job; yet, jobs on shore arising from the fishing industry can be created for perhaps 20 per cent of this figure.
I welcome the recent announcement by this Minister that he wishes to visit all the fishing ports around the country and inform himself of developments so that the maximum advantage can be taken of our most natural and indigenous industry. This announcement must be lauded. It would be useful for him to acquaint himself with the difficulties and with progress being made not only in broad relation to fishing but also regarding the rapidly growing successful mussel industry which forms part of the aquaculture and mariculture which has much to offer the Irish economy.
The two most serious matters now facing our fishing industry are the present restrictive quotas and a recent directive by Brussels to cut back further on our existing tonnage. I cannot accept the tonnage instruction and sincerely urge the Minister to convey to Europe the nonsensical consequences of this tonnage directive for Ireland. If we are forced to cut back on our existing tonnage, then the 22 new licences granted by the Department of the Marine last year may not be issued; it would be futile to do so. If Europe, through Brussels, decides that we have exceeded a stipulated tonnage, then it is virtually certain that no EC funding will be made available to us to refurbish our ageing fleet or for the building of new boats which are essential for the continuation and further development of the Irish fishing industry.
We should seek not alone to retain our existing tonnage but look for increased tonnage given that we are already at a disadvantage in relation to other European countries such as Spain, Portugal, France, Holland, etc. This is a serious and urgent matter that should be addressed forthwith. To this extent I do not expect the Minister to achieve miracles but I remind him that when we joined the Common Market almost 20 years ago we began in a disadvantaged position with regard to tonnage, size of boats, horse power of boats, capacity of boats, fish quotas, etc.
Having regard to our tonnage problems, I urge that all foreign fishing vessels particularly those of Spanish origin who are flying flags of convenience in Irish waters, have their licences withdrawn forthwith. My reason for this demand is that the licences were granted in 1982-83 by the then Fine Gael-Labour Coalition Government on the clear understanding that these vessels would supply Irish factories and create extra jobs. In Cork south-west a factory known as Eiranova was set up in Castletownbere; it was then presumed by the IDA and by the fishing industry at the time that this factory could not be kept going or jobs created if it were to depend solely on supply from the local fishermen. Consequently five licences were issued to Spaniards on a number of conditions, one being that 75 per cent of staff of Spanish vessels flying the flag of convenience would be Irish citizens. That condition was never adhered to.
The total number of boats flying a flag of convenience in Irish territorial waters is 13. They employ largely non-Irish crew and whether fish is landed in Castletownbere, Cobh or Killybegs, to my knowledge the greater portion of this fish is transported by truck or juggernaut to Spain for processing, thereby dashing any hopes of creating extra jobs here. This Minister cannot be blamed for that but the fishing industry needs to have this situation redressed.
None of the conditions attaching to the issue of licences have been complied with. I ask the Minister to check these licences to see if breaches of contract have occurred, and if the conditions are not complied with the licences should be withdrawn. When we are in a difficult situation with regard to our own tonnage, why should we facilitate the Spaniards, the Portuguese or indeed any other country to exploit our fishing grounds to their benefit? I deplore the idea that the Spaniards or other Europeans should be accommodated any longer with flags of convenience, a proposal made already in Brussels. I am angry with the manner in which Spanish fishing vessels crewed by Spaniards come to our waters every year and take large catches of fish from our territorial waters back to Spain. This is tantamount to a rape of our fishing grounds and although the Navy are doing their utmost to control illegal fishing by foreign vessels, the number of vessels impounded and the number of skippers prosecuted amount to no more than about 10 per cent of the law breakers.
As a practising solicitor I am aware that skippers of Spanish trawlers — I do not want to give the impression that no other nations break the law in this respect but the Spaniards do so primarily — are arrested by the Navy and brought to court in ports like Castletownbere or Cobh. The problem is greatest off the southwest coast because that is the nearest Irish point to Spain, Portugal and France. We read in newspapers about four, five or six vessels being brought in but see only the tip of the iceberg. They are fined £10,000 or £15,000 their catch and gear are confiscated, but normally within 48 hours they have been brought before the District Court, released and are free to return to our waters. Before they leave Irish territorial waters they take a fish catch to bring back to Spain and three or four days' fishing enables them to cover the cost of their fine. It is profitable for them to rape our fishing grounds and head back to Spain. It is a difficult situation to deal with and Navy personnel I have spoken to and some Irish trawler skippers are aware of it. It has been going on for years; in the last three or four years we have been coming to grips with it but we have not yet done enough to eliminate the problem.
I urge that stiffer penalties be applied. If a skipper blatantly disobeys the territorial restriction and comes before our courts a second time — in Cork one skipper of a foreign vessel has been before our courts on two or three occasions — that skipper should be jailed. If foreign skippers come into our waters, ride rough shod over Irish fishing grounds and play havoc with Irish fishing vessels, on second conviction it would be appropriate that those skippers be jailed. If our fishermen were caught in the same situation off France or Spain we would not get away with it.
I have said to some skippers that not alone should these trespassers be fined heavily and their fishing gear and catch confiscated, but their fishing licence from their country of origin should be produced in court and not returned until a formal application is made by the country of origin. The trawler would be unable meanwhile to fish in EC or other waters. That would be another deterrent to raiding fishing vessels.
The incidents off our coastline last year where a number of Irish fishing vessels were rammed by more powerful foreign trawlers must be condemned outright. Bullying Irish fishermen in Irish waters or within our 200 mile EC zone cannot be tolerated. If this is allowed to continue lives may be lost. I inspected two vessels that were rammed off our coast last year when they were brought in for repair. It took nearly nine months to repair one of them and the people concerned were lucky that lives were not lost. These incidents happened 75 or 80 miles off the Fastnet Rock and I do not think the public are aware of the dangers encountered by fishermen. Several other incidents were reported. It is difficult to tackle the problem because by the time a Navy boat based in Haulbowline has steamed 60 or 70 miles to where the incident occurred, nine times out of ten the ramming vessel has left for Spain or Portugal and is out of reach of our patrol boats.
It is a farce to suggest that other EC countries offer reciprocal arrangements to Ireland with regard to fishing in their territorial waters, such as the arrangement where we allow Spanish trawlers flying the flag of convenience to fish in our waters and land in our ports. The majority of the Irish fleet bar two or three super trawlers have not the capacity, the size or the horse power to visit the waters of Spain or Portugal or to fish in the North Sea. Apart from fishing around our coastline and off the coastline of Scotland and Great Britain, we are a home based fleet. Consequently this reciprocal arrangement would be of no benefit to our fishing fleet or economy.
The reciprocal arrangement should be let stand as far as Scotland and England are concerned. To my knowledge from dealing with fishermen and skippers, the number of incidents that occur between Scottish, Irish and British vessels is minimal. A good working relationship exists between Ireland and Britain in fishing matters.
Politicians have been accused of not having the necessary political will to tackle the problems. The Spanish have got most benefits available under the EC and they are operating illegally almost without hindrance. The frightening facts I am now about to quote were gleaned from skippers of trawlers and from people involved in fishing co-ops not alone in west Cork but in other areas, too. Maybe the Department cannot statistically stand over them but last year it was estimated that 250 illegal Spanish vesels operating in EC and Irish waters took approximately 350 tonnes of fish a week along our coast. The amount of fish being removed annually is substantial and the value would run into millions of pounds. The damage to our stocks and to the economy must be appreciated. Much of that fish is sold as blackmarket produce in Spain below full market prices constituting a cheap source of food for that country. Spanish or French representatives in Brussels would not agree that this happens but it does. The lorry drivers going to Spain with fish from Ireland and the trawlers and the fishermen who have an interactional relationship with each other can ascertain the situation reasonably accurately.
The Spanish fishing boats carry a crew of 15 and the employment potential is considerable. A simple calculation based on 250 boats each with a crew of 15 men or women would produce a figure of about 3,750 Spanish fisherpeople operating illegally off our coastline. Maybe in bad weather this number might be smaller but, having regard to our employment figures, it is frightening that this situation should prevail off our coastline.
With regard to the policing of catches, the size and quality of fish and the policing of the closed season, Ireland has six EC fishery officers, plus our local fishery officers whereas Spain, having regard to its size, has but two. We have six fulltime EC officials checking every port where we land fish and Spain, with a more developed fishery industry, has just two EC officers to police all their ports. How they get away with that baffles me, but they do.
Foreign trawlers, particularly from Spain, may be interfering with our breeding grounds; nets have been shot in monkfish breeding grounds which will soon wipe out this valuable fish. Ireland appears to be the only country in the EC which is serious about curtailing the activities of its own fishermen and dealing with conservation of stocks, etc. This is a very hard pill for Irish fishermen to swallow when flagrant breaches of conservation rules, apart from instances already set out, are attributable to large foreign vessels. The Spanish are usually the offenders in these cases; and in fairness, we have a good working relationship with our close neighbours in Scotland and England.
There is an urgent need to extend the 12 mile exclusive fishing zone to at least 50 miles and to introduce a conservation zone and protect it from the operation of Spanish and Portuguese invaders. There is a "protection box" in a portion of this zone at present which is due to expire in 1995. What is to become of our fishermen after that date? I appreciate and acknowledge that the Naval Service are doing a good job within the constrained resources available to them. The new 50 mile limit should be exclusive to Irish fishermen and the existing 200 mile limit for Europe should be retained. To assist the Navy to police our waters I would urgently request the Department of the Marine with European funding to provide at least six speedy patrol vessels for the protection and conservation of our stocks and waters. I urge that at least two or three spotter planes be provided for back up service. If this is not done over the next few years the Irish fishing industry will suffer considerably as the rape of Irish fishing waters did not begin last year but has been going on for the last ten or 15 years virtually unnoticed. If an Irish fishing trawler were to be caught fishing illegally off the coast of France or Spain and brought before their jurisdiction I wonder what the consequences would be.
There are many other matters which I would like to raise tonight but the most important message I have for the Minister is the worry of Irish fishermen that the cutback in tonnage will prevent 22 licences granted last year from being renewed. Problems are also anticipated regarding funding for the maintenance and refurbishment of existing fishing boats and the building of new ones. We should build a number of large ocean going fishing vessels to enable us to compete with our European colleagues.
