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February 2010 News Net
Days at Sea Shambles
As the 2009 days at sea year comes to an end, English based whitefish trawlers have been prevented from fishing in the North Sea, which Scottish whitefish vessels are allowed to fish on, despite the fact that it is Scottish based trawlers that have exceeded their days at sea allocations! This is just one of the serious anomalies, which as predicted, are beginning to show themselves as the effort control system, agreed as part of the Long Term Cod Recovery Plan (LTCRP) enters its second year.
With the new days at sea year set to start on the 1st February, Northern Irish trawler owners affected by the scheme will still be awaiting issue of the final rules for the 2010 year. An interim letter encouraging trawler owners to opt for the ‘5% cod rule’, thereby entitling them to 200 days is being issued by DARD. This means that if you keep your catch of cod below 5% in the cod recovery zone (Irish Sea, West of Scotland and North Sea) you will be rewarded with 200 days at sea. With this option you cannot transfer days and there are other conditions.
Overall, the equation is simple. If you want more days, you forget about cod. If you want cod, you forget about days.
DARD has advised that they shall be writing to vessel owners seeking opinions on the 1.5% exemption rule. In other words, if you catch less than 1.5% by live weight of cod, you can be exempted from days at sea. However, DARD made several requests to Europe during 2009 to have a number of local trawlers exempted under this rule and each request was turned down. Furthermore, while there are obvious attractions in being exempted from days, there may be long term implications. Might the value of the licences attached to these vessels be affected, if they no long had the entitlement to fish for cod? Another important factor is that if a vessel took up this derogation then its contribution to the days at sea pot would be removed. In other words by decreasing the number of boats fishing against the days at sea pot, this wouldn’t increase the number of days available for the boats having to stay in the pot. If an exempted vessel was to lose its exemption it would have to go back into the pot, but its days at sea would not be returned to the pot! So all the boats in the pot would have less days at sea all round! Overall, our opinion would be not to take up this exemption.
Amazingly, despite the fact that days at sea in the North Sea will be cut by a minimum of 10% in 2010 (it will probably be closer to 15%) and days at sea in the West of Scotland have been cut by 25%, the Scottish Government have advised some of their fleet sectors that their days at sea have actually been increased for 2010. Example; Scottish prawn boats fishing the west of Scotland have been advised they have 6 more days this year than last. A bit of magic there! Of course people would be right to ask that if the Scots can do it then why can we not?
The fact is that this Organisation has argued from the outset that days at sea, as regulated under the LTCRP would be a disaster for all fishing fleets affected by it. Unfortunately, there were industry representatives that supported the scheme and overall the UK seems to have slept walked into what is turning out to be another crisis for the industry.
Following the last meeting with DARD on the 15th January, a text update was sent to PO members. The following is a reminder of its content.
Days: Industry/DARD meeting today in Belfast re 2010 effort rules. Following are the headlines.
1. DARD to write to vessel owners to ascertain interest in those seeking exemption from days restrictions; the less than 1.5% cod catch rule (I advise against).
2. Vessels catching no more than 5% cod to get 200 days. No historic proof of 5% cod catch needed. Vessels exceeding 5% cod by a very small amount will not automatically lose the 200 day option - will be a 2nd chance.
3. DARD calculates basic prawn days @ 129 and whitefish @ 124. ANIFPO proposed 150 for both.
4. Installation of 120mm SMP will buy back extra 10% of basic days.
5. Semi-pelagic trawl accepted as Eliminator trawl & will buy back 15% of basic days.
6. Scottish Government has stopped days being leased/swapped into Scotland. Days can still be transferred within NI, possibly England/Wales.
7. Issue re days in North Sea and West of Scotland for NI boats outstanding.
On the last point, the PO has written to UK Fisheries Minister Huw Irranca-Davies MP. The following is a transcript of the letter.
2010 Fishing Effort Regime
Dear Minister,
During 2008, when you were drafted in as DEFRA’s Fisheries Minister, it was in the midst of the Scottish Government seeking UDI on management of “their share” of the UK fishing quotas. You skilfully averted a crisis on that front. In the weeks prior to the EU’s December 2009 Fisheries Council we expressed our concern to you about the possibility of a section of the UK fishing fleet being excluded from certain UK waters because of the way effort control/days at sea might be managed. You assured us this would not happen.
During the past few weeks, as discussions on the management of the UK’s 2010 effort pot have progressed, we have become increasingly alarmed by the “regional approach” Fisheries Administrations are applying. For instance, it seems that without any consultation, let alone Ministerial agreement, the Scottish Government have adopted a Scottish effort pot, reflecting what they perceive to be Scotland’s share of effort in the North Sea and West of Scotland. In doing this they seem to be seeking to prevent or at best severely limit the activity of Northern Irish trawlers in the North Sea and to a lesser degree in the West of Scotland.
We understand the UK has been granted effort allocations for the North Sea, West of Scotland and Irish Sea and in order to avoid the effort ceilings being exceeded these allocations should be managed separately. However, as we stated last year, the development of a system, which seeks to effectively exclude any part of the UK fishing fleet from any UK waters is unacceptable.
The Irish Sea has suffered most from unjust quota reductions, the most recent notable example being the decision on Area 7 Nephrops for 2010. When faced with such problems our fishermen need to explore all of the options available to them, including migration to fishing grounds outside of the Irish Sea. It is unfair to remove or curtail this alternative.
Some may suggest this route has not been removed and if they wish to fish in e.g. the North Sea then our fishermen could transfer in or lease North Sea effort. Again, I would suggest this is unacceptable. Northern Irish fishermen did lease a significant amount of effort into Scotland during 2009. This proved to be a useful economic subsidy, which in 2010 has been removed by the Scottish Government. Our priority is the survival of the active trawlers in our fleet. Costs must be minimised for our fishermen. The 2007 Economic Survey of the UK Fishing Fleet, complied by Seafish shows that out of 20 fleet segments, the average crew wage on prawn trawlers in the Irish Sea ranked 17th, with only crew members in under 10m segments earning a lower salary.
Twelve months ago you suggested that in light of experience with the then new Long term Cod Recovery Plan, you would consider returning to the EC with a portfolio of the practical problems this European scheme had delivered. While we are able to identify a plethora of problems with the European Regulation, we never thought for one minute that some regions of the UK would seek to exacerbate the problems for fishermen from another region of the UK.
I would respectfully request that you urgently examine all of the issues discussed here. Thank you in advance for your help.
Fisheries Forum
Following the last meeting of the Northern Ireland Fisheries Forum on 19th January, a text update was sent to PO members. The following is a reminder of that message.
At this morning's meeting the PO reiterated our support for a decommissioning scheme FOR ALL local fishing vessels. At the same time we proposed that another enhanced Hardship Package be paid to the fleet, possibly as part of a much wider industry restructuring plan. A draft Forum report will be tabled at the next meeting – 16th February 2010, which will form the basis of the recommendations to be put to the Minister by the end of March. A final announcement on decommissioning and modernisation grants should then be made during April.
PS – If the Minister decides during April to support a decommissioning scheme it maybe several months before one can be launched. DARD will be required to draft a business case for the scheme and this in turn will have to be approved by the Department’s economists. Therefore any decommissioning scheme is likely to be several months away.
FQA Re-conciliation Exercise:
Last week PO members should have received details of the FQAs/quota units from UK Fisheries Departments. As advised by text you are urged to check these. If you have any queries please contact the PO office as soon as possible. Similarly, any member who has been involved in/agreed the transfer/sale of FQA units should ensure that these units are transferred to the appropriate licence during this exercise. Again, please advise the PO accordingly. The exercise is to be completed by the 19th February 2010.
UK MEPs Support for Fishing Industry
On Tuesday of this week, the PO was involved in the first meeting between UK MEPs from various political parties, who are members of the European Parliament’s Fisheries Committee. This was the first time that any of the MEPs present has been invited to co-ordinate their activities for any UK industry or on any subject.
The meeting was told that if most fishermen had a choice, they would have nothing to do with Europe’s Commons Fisheries Policy, but until that utopia is secured we have to make the best out of what we have.
Many fishermen understandably perceive that their politicians are uninterested in the fishing industry. In many ways it is up to the industry representatives to make politicians interested and show them that our industry has a future that’s worth fighting for. It is hoped that this meeting in Brussels with the UK’s MEP is the start of a process, which even if it doesn’t result in an immediate and radical change in EU fisheries policy will result in a more coordinated effort by all of us who are motivated by and believe in our fishing industry.
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