Martin Ferris
Question:2. Deputy Martin Ferris asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will provide compensation for fishermen who, due to bad weather, have been unable to put to sea since November 2015. [2364/16]
View answerThursday, 21 January 2016
Questions (2)
Oral answers (16 contributions)
Like all of us, the Minister is aware of the terrible weather conditions at the back of last year. There were six storms in about three months. That had an effect on inshore fishermen, in particular those with trawlers under 15 m, many of whom had not been able to put to sea from 3 November up to early January. Has the Minister put any compensation packages in place to help the fishermen?
It is important that the fishing industry take every precaution to avoid risk of injury or worse during periods of stormy weather and have full regard to local weather warnings before going to sea. Fishermen who may be experiencing financial difficulties while ashore during periods of adverse weather should contact the Department of Social Protection, which offers income support payments, subject to certain eligibility criteria. The National Inshore Fisheries Forum has invited the Department of Social Protection to its meeting today to discuss social protection policies relevant to the inshore fishing sector.
The new Seafood Development Operational Programme under the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund was adopted by the European Commission in December 2015. That programme provides a comprehensive range of supports for the seafood sector worth €241 million, including a dedicated scheme of supports for the inshore sector to address the various economic and sustainability challenges facing the sector. In regard to specific measures to support fishermen affected by significant losses arising from adverse weather events, the EMFF and the operational programme provide for the establishment by fishermen of a mutual fund for adverse climatic events and environmental incidents, which when established can provide aid to fishermen affiliated to the fund in line with pre-defined rules. The operational programme will co-fund the mutual fund, together with subscriptions from member fishermen. In that sense, the viability of such a mutual fund is dependent on the extent to which fishermen commit to membership of that fund.
Following the December adoption of the programme, I launched the initial tranche of schemes last Thursday at the Government press centre with the support of the European Commission. Further schemes will follow during 2016. For some of the inshore fishermen, particularly in the Celtic Sea, where there is an artisan herring fishery, we have sought to carry over a quota that could not be caught in December into January and February to ensure that what they lost because of bad weather in December carries over into this year. The Celtic Sea herring management committee will be considering those issues in the next couple of weeks.
I welcome the carryover of the herring fishery. I understand the Minister is talking about 1,300 tones whereas the carryover allocation is only 1,000, so that they are at a loss of 300 tonnes. If that is incorrect I would appreciate if the Minister would correct me. Most boats have been tied up since 3 November and some have not been at sea for 75 days. I am not talking only about the boat owner but the crew. The boat owner and the crew are self-employed people. They have enormous difficulty in accessing support from the Department of Social Protection. In order to get support one has to produce earnings for the previous year from one's accountant and so forth. That is creating huge difficulties. Most people involved in the sector, the crew and boat owners, are only barely surviving. We talked earlier about farm income at €47,000 per year but for most people involved in this sector their earnings are less than €15,000 and way below the minimum wage.
I thank the Deputy.
The difficulty in accessing support from the Department of Social Protection is proving very difficult. I have been working on this issue for quite some.
There is another aspect I wish to put on the record.
I will allow the Deputy back in again.
Thank you.
I agree with much of what the Deputy has said. Many people in the inshore fishing fleet are on very low incomes and have had difficulty in accessing supports through the Department of Social Protection, not because it is anybody's fault but because fishermen are in a different position from people who are working in a more structured workplace. Often fishermen work on the basis of a share of the catch which is up and down, depending on the month, what quota is available, the weather and so on. This is a much less structured industry than other more normal employment. Sometimes that makes it more difficult to access supports. The national inshore fisheries forum is meeting the Department of Social Protection today to try to look at ironing out some of those problems. I spoke to the Tánaiste about this issue when there were severe storms either last year or the previous year and she was anxious that her Department would be helpful because everybody recognises that fishermen who are tied up to the quay because of bad weather for long periods will have income challenges.
I thank the Minister.
Let us see how that works. I would like to encourage the industry to make the mutual fund work. The idea is that everybody would put a small amount of money into a fund and that the State would match it, so that there would be a pool of money in place from which, during difficult periods, they could take that money out. That would be a sensible approach to hedge against income difficulties. We will be promoting that with the industry.
The difficulty with the mutual fund is that fishermen have to put money into the fund. I live in the area. I know the difficulties they have and the Minister probably has a good idea of them also. They have insurance costs and bank loans. They have to replace gear on an annual basis and try to find funding to do that. They are existing, not living. That is the problem. Some 80% of the Irish fishing fleet is in those circumstances.
A bit of imagination is needed. I have been working on this issue for quite some time. In the farming sector there was the single farm payment, now the basic payment scheme, from the European Union. Perhaps we should have a fishing payment scheme under the EU to help these people survive. Every cent the people involved in that sector earn is spent in their local community.
The Minister mentioned the Department of Social Protection and supports. I first mentioned the difficulties experienced by fishermen in accessing support from the Department of Social Protection four years ago, and I have raised it every year since. Nothing is happening and nothing will happen because the political will is not there.
I do not think the Tánaiste understands what it means to live in rural Ireland or a coastal community and the difficulties people living in such areas face. One has to be from these environments and part of that culture to understand it. She does not have a clue. She passes reports to her officials and they gather dust on shelves.
I have lived in rural Ireland. I have been to a lot of fishing ports and spoken to a lot of fishermen in the past five years and before. I have a pretty good idea-----
I was referring to the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection.
I have spoken to her about this issue. There is the political will to deal with it, which is why I will be asking for the results of the meeting to be held today. We will speak to the group about it. This is the first Government to establish a proper structure to try to ensure the inshore fishing fleet will have a say on quotas and funding allocations. We are allocating over €6 million in the new EMFF fund for the inshore fishing sector.
How much?
Over €6 million. We are trying to put resources into the sector and are listening to those involved. We are including them in all of the key decision-making bodies in which they have not been included. As I said, in my Department we have had multiple meetings with representatives of the inshore fishing sector. I want to make sure the sector is viable. Deputy Thomas Pringle has tabled questions on the sector to make sure those involved in it will have access to the north-west herring fishery when it is reopened. We want to keep them in business and make sure they have reasonable incomes and access to fishing opportunities, but we also need to consider imaginative ways to insure against the income losses to which the Deputy referred. Having a mutual fund is a good way to do this and a very cost-effective way for the industry to do it.