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Britain’s proposal to recapture 80 per cent of EU fish caught in UK waters after Brexit is “very worrying”, said Agriculture, Food and Marine Minister Charlie McConalogue.
The minister told an Oireachtas committee that he had “no more details” on the fish stocks affected by the counterproposal by the EU’s main Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier to offer 15 to 18 percent.
Fishing is one of the few issues still dividing EU and UK negotiators when negotiating a free trade deal to avoid a no-deal Brexit before the end of the status quo transition period on 31 from December.
The Irish fishing fleet catches roughly a third of its fish each year in UK waters, including over 60 per cent of the mackerel caught by Irish vessels, so continued access is vital for the industry.
McConalogue told the Oireachtas agriculture, food and marine committee that the government was still pushing for continued access and quotas, the system that distributes populations based on a percentage of each species, that the Irish fleet currently has in British waters. .
He said the Government and seven other EU coastal member states still hoped that Mr Barnier could use other areas included in a free trade agreement with the UK as “leverage” to allow EU vessels to continue fishing in British waters with the same proportion of fish caught every year.
“We are very confident that Mr. Barnier will fight hard and he has been fighting hard in that regard. It’s going to be really important for the next few days, ”McConalogue said.
The minister said the UK offer “would have a very significant impact on our fishing fleet.”
Britain’s demand within the EU-UK trade negotiations for annual talks on access to UK waters and quotas would also cause “very significant instability” for the Irish fishing sector and strategically place it “in a position very vulnerable, “he said.
McConalogue said a no-deal Brexit would be “very damaging” for Irish fisheries.
Sinn Féin TD Pádraig McLochlainn said the UK’s proposed offer would be “absolutely devastating” and even the EU offer “has gone down very badly in the fisheries sector here”.
Under such an agreement, the EU’s common fisheries policy would have to be renegotiated for Irish waters, he said. He voiced “grave concerns” about what will happen to European fishing fleets displaced from British waters if access is cut off after Brexit takes effect on January 1.
McConalogue said that the EU’s fisheries policy would be reviewed in 2021 and 2022.
Fine Gael Senator Tim Lombard described the negotiations between the EU and the UK over the next fortnight “as the 14 most important days for the Irish fishing industry in probably a generation.”
Paul Kehoe, Fine Gael TD from Wexford, said the fallout from the UK proposal would have a greater impact on fishing in the South East given the enormous cost Kilmore Quay-based vessels face if they have to fish off the west coast. should they enter the extremes of UK waters.
“It is a big concern in small rural communities that depend on the fishing industry,” he said.
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