Fishing boats worth €1.5m to be destroyed if owners take part in plan to slash fleet size
Lines Fishing On Scoedec Manuel Board The Men In Trawlerman Based Neil The Hauling Michael Dingle Picture:
Fishing vessels worth up to €1.5m each will be destroyed if owners agree to take part in a government scheme to slash the size of the country's fleet.
The fishing industry has condemned what it called a financial “double whammy” for members taking part in the post-Brexit scheme.
In response to reduced fish catch quotas, the government has set a target to remove at least 60 whitefish vessels to ensure the country's remaining fleet is viable.
So far, 64 operators, almost half of whom are based in Cork, have applied to the €60m decommissioning scheme whereby boat owners are effectively bought out to stop them from fishing.
However, there are now warnings that some will change their minds due to unforeseen penalties.
This is one of the articles in Part 1 of the 'Irish Examiner' special report (in print, ePaper, and online) on Ireland's fishing crisis. Click that link to read the rest, as well as Part 2 on Monday, January 9.
It has emerged that operators who are accepted for decommissioning will only get a proportion of the total value of their boats and, instead of being able to sell the vessels on the open market, the boats will have to be destroyed.
The industry estimates the boats could be worth as much as €35m in total on the second-hand market, ranging in value from €200,000 to €1.5m each.
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It has also been confirmed that eligible boat owners will have to pay back some of the funds they received over the past two years as part of a scheme to reduce fishing
activity, known as the Brexit Temporary Fleet Tie-Up Scheme.
“Anybody going for decommissioning is going to face a double whammy,” said Irish South and West Fish Producers Organisation chief executive Patrick Murphy.
“They will have to pay tie-up money back and could even end up paying to scrap their own boat.
“After fishers have paid off their debts, and paid back the tie-up money, there will be little or nothing left.
“That this has now been confirmed is sad news for anybody who has gone for decommissioning, and I can see some changing their minds and not bothering.”
Mr Murphy described the proposed destruction of operational vessels as “sinful”.
“At a time when we are all talking about sustainability and the so-called circular economy, the idea that these boats have to be destroyed rather than be used for purposes other than fishing is just bonkers,” he said.
Asked why decommissioned boats have to be scrapped, a Department of Agriculture spokesperson said it was linked to tax treatment for monies paid under the scheme.
“It was decided, to ensure the success of the scheme, to only allow for the scrapping of vessels as part of this scheme rather than facilitating their repurposing,” the spokesperson stated.
The department also said the requirement for boat owners to pay back money received as part of the tie-up scheme was guided by EU Commission state aid rules.
The decommissioning scheme offers applicants a basic payment per gross tonne, and a ‘catch incentive premium’ per gross tonne based on a calculation of fish landings.
Coastal communities, particularly in places such as Castletownbere in West Cork, have warned that the removal of fishing vessels will have a devastating impact on the local economy.