EU capitulates to Fishermen - again

national | environment | press release Thursday December 22, 2005 16:12 by John McGowan

Announcements of cuts in fishery quotas for cod, haddock and other species by the EU today were condemned by both environmentalists and the industrial fishing lobby. But the cuts represent another cowardly capitulation to the corporate sector - here represented by fishermen.

Today's small cuts will do little to stop the huge decline in fish populations in EU waters. The increase in quotas for Prawn, presented as a concession to fishermen to soften other blows, will speed up the depletion of a hugely important fodder species essential for the survival of salmon and many other species.
Fishermen are portrayed in the media as ruddy faced men with battered little trawlers ekeing out a livng on windswept coastlines. But in the EU this is a massive distortion of the truth. In Ireland (and the EU) fishing is a huge corporate sector, heavily subsidised, which frequently flouts environmental regulations.
All sides agree that once common species such as cod need to be saved from the rapacious 'factory ships'. Today's cuts help nobody and illustrate the weakness of the EU. The cuts were condemned by politicians across Ireland who (The Greens aside) view them as another attack on the fishermen. But unless soemthing serious is done soon there will be no longer be a fishing industry to save.