Tag Archives: Ireland’s fishing industry
Cormac Burke: Desperation is turning to anger in Ireland’s fishing industry
As readers see this article, there’ll be a temptation to think its just another fishing industry sob story, and indeed who could blame them? It is decades since we’ve heard anything positive and yet this sector consists of thousands of people in coastal communities crying out that their traditional way of life is being gradually eliminated and eradicated by government. I could launch into the tragic list of catastrophes that have befallen the fishing sector over the last 20 years due to blatant mismanagement by successive governments, marine ministers, and senior civil servants but these tragedies were more by design than by accident. The Irish public rarely gets to see the true face of the fishing sector and how our politicians managed to get Ireland’s fishermen the worst possible deal from Brexit negotiations,,, >click to read< 15:48
Ireland’s fishing industry: A post-Brexit quandary
Fishermen and women are in a quandary over sharp Brexit cuts to their catch in the EU-UK trade agreement. The deal eliminates some €20 million from mackerel and prawn quotas this year. By 2026 the annual value of all stocks will drop €43 million, a 15 per cent cut from 2020. For the fishing industry, this is the opposite of the decisive European solidarity that buttressed Ireland’s efforts to keep the Border open after Brexit. Trawlers sailed into Dublin port last week to protest outside a meeting of the Dáil in the convention centre. After huge price cuts because of coronavirus, the mood is grim in coastal communities. The Seafood Task Force, a Government-appointed group that includes the industry, reports a “deep sense of grievance”. >click to read< 13:35
A government working group is to examine allegations of abuse in Ireland’s fishing industry.
MOST UNDOCUMENTED WORKERS trafficked into Ireland’s fishing industry are not eligible for work permits, Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton has said. Bruton was speaking following calls by the Irish Fish Producers Association (IFPA) to regularise the employment status of African and Asian migrants allegedly working as cheap labour on Irish trawlers. A year-long investigation published in The Guardian yesterday alleged that undocumented workers often work on Irish vessels for days on end without any sleep or basic safety training. Read the rest here 13:14
