Wicklow's Fish Stocks Declining
November 6th, 2000
Fishing stocks around our coastline, including that of county Wicklow, are declining. The Minister for the Marine, Frank Fahey warned, "Unless we take action immediately, we are going to have serious trouble". The minister made this statement at the publication of a report by the Irish National Strategy Review Group which issues recommendations for the shortly to be reviewed Common Fisheries Policy.
An estimated 40,000 people nation-wide work directly or indirectly in the fishing industry including around 3,000 in County Wicklow. The report strongly recommends that the socio-economic importance of the fishing industry be incorporated into the revised Common Fisheries Policy. The N.S.R.G. point out that currently this is not the case as dependant coastal areas cannot fully utilise the fish resources beside to them. The importance of fishing to coastal areas is stressed as paramount in the report.
However Minister Fahey drew particular attention to the emphasis in the report on the fact that fish stocks are declining, and the need to ensure sustainable development of fish stocks. "The current situation of many fish stocks being over fished is not tenable. One of my top priorities is to ensure the sustainable enhancement of fishery resources and I will be stressing that message to my colleges in the EU in the period ahead".
Padric White, Chairperson of the National Strategy Review Group in presenting the report to Minister Fahey pointed out that this report marked an imaginative approach by the Irish fishing industry in relation to the Common Fisheries Policy. This is based on the conviction that all member states will benefit if enforcement is even handed, and if the social and economic needs of fishing dependant coastal communities in Europe are given due recognition in the CFP.
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