Norway has been branded a “rogue state” by an Irish MEP concerned about its bid to fish 80,000 tonnes of blue whiting in Irish waters.
Council of the European Union meets every year to set fishing quotas for the bloc’s 27 member states and agree limits with Norway and now the UK.
Fine Gael’s Colm Markey, who represents Ireland’s North West, has accused the Norwegians of ‘doing deals’ with Russia in relation to fishing quota transfers as they negotiate for 2023.
And says “no deal is better than a bad deal” if the interests of Irish fishermen are not protected.
“There’s a range of concerns,” Mr Markey said in Brussels.
“The reality is that Norway has unilaterally taken a quota of blue whiting of over 400,000 tonnes which is worth over €100 million.
“They are now looking to fish 80,000 tonnes of that in Irish waters... at the same time they are doing agreements with Russia of all places in relation to quota transfers to them.“It seems to me, Norway is acting like a rogue state in this regard,” he added.
“On top of that they are expecting to just roll into Irish waters, fish this 80,000 tonne of blue whiting and give no recognition to the fact that they are Irish waters and Irish fisheries have probably less than a tenth of that level of blue whiting quota ourselves.
“What we want is an agreement between Europe and Norway that fully recognises that if Norway is coming into Irish waters - there has to be significant compensation for Ireland in terms of quota allocation to Ireland.
“There’s talk of deals on the table that will affect Spain, France, Germany and Holland,” he told Eoin Ó Catháin.
“3% of the consideration was coming Ireland’s way - that’s quite simply not good enough.
“We’ve made a big strong case about this, we met the Commissioner a week ago and raised the issue with him and I’m delighted to see that at Council level the department has taken a very strong position on this.
“I think we need to hold the line because essentially... no deal is better than a bad deal in this situation.
“If there’s no deal the Norwegian boats can’t come into Irish waters and they shouldn’t come in until there’s a deal in place that appropriately recognises the position of Irish fishermen.
“They have to recognise as well, if someone comes in to fish 80,000 tonnes of blue whiting they will inadvertently collect other fish as well so it’s not just impacting the blue whiting.”
This is not the first time Norway has been blasted for overfishing, while the EC has also been accused in the past of harming marine areas by setting fishing quotas and total allowable catches (TACs) that sometimes ignore scientific advice on sustainable practices and contribute to the depletion of fish stocks.
A report from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea on November 30 highlighted how stocks of “herring, mackerel, and blue whiting, are being fished above” FMSY - which is a biological reference point for fishing pressure that gives the most sustainable yield long term.
In short it means blue whiting are already overfished in the North East Atlantic.
While ministers have agreed provisional limits for the first three months of 2023, discussions on final deals between the EU, Norway and the UK are ongoing.
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