Up to 20 fishers could withdraw from State's decommissioning scheme
Picture: The Dingle On Michael Hauling The Board Trawlerman Based Lines Neil In Fishing Scoedec Men Manuel
Up to 20 fishers could withdraw their applications to join the Government's decommissioning scheme, according to those applying for it.
Speaking on condition they were not named, they said that while they were not happy with their own offer, they will probably still go for it.
But they said “a good number” — between around 15 and 20 — of those who have applied to the scheme, and received offers, are now considering changing their minds.
“This isn’t just because of the small amount of money they are being offered, but this is also to do with the lack of information around tax liabilities,” they said.
“There is a lot of unhappiness in the industry in general and a lot of people, like myself, are not at all happy with having to even apply for decommissioning.
“If the quota was there, we would be happier fishing. Most of us would.”
A spokesperson for BIM said that Revenue officials will determine what each fisher's tax liabilities are. They also said that the average offer yo fishers is "approximately €1.3m".
"However, it varies by the size and class of vessel and offers can range from €150,000 to €4m.
"Each offer is based on the type of fishing and the volume of quota species caught," they said.
Grievances about the scheme will be aired at a meeting convened by the Irish South and West Fish Producers Organisation in Limerick today.
Boat owners accepted for decommissioning will only get a proportion of the total value of their boats back and instead of being able to sell them on, they will have to be destroyed.
Were the boats to be sold on the open market, they would range in value from €200,000 to €1.5m, with a total second-hand market value of around €35m for the boats that have applied for decommissioning.
Any fishing boat owners accepted for decommissioning will have to scrap their boats, and all boat owners will have to pay back funds they received during the pandemic.
A number were paid not to fish for a number of months over the past two years under the Brexit Temporary Fleet Tie Up Scheme.
Both the decommissioning and tie-up schemes were designed to help mitigate against the quota and financial losses Irish fishers sustained because of Brexit and are funded by the €1bn Ireland got from the EU’s Brexit Adjustment Reserve (BAR) fund.
This was set up to help member states most affected by Brexit to deal with adverse economic, social, territorial, and environmental consequences.
There were some 57 applications to join the scheme, which was one of the key recommendations of the Seafood Task Force set up by Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue.
A spokesperson said: “The scheme is wholly voluntary and those receiving the offers are totally free to accept or reject.
“The individual offers are formal contractual offers from the State to each individual and it is solely for each individual to consider their specific offer. It is the nature of the Scheme that all offers are different. Offers are non-negotiable in that the formal contractual offers are issued.”