Fisheries watchdog may appear before Oireachtas to explain weighing system
Weighing Picture: /rollingnews Of Td Boal A Article Examiner Ie Out Wednesday Issue Came When A Up Recent During Michael Irish Collins West The Sitting The On Sam Mittee Read Cork
The fisheries watchdog could be brought before the Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture to explain its fish weighing system.
The weighing issue came up during a sitting of the committee on Wednesday when Cork West TD Michael Collins read out a recent article.
The article reported Ireland’s biggest fish processors are filing two sets of figures for the amount and types of fish they process.
One set is from a sampling system devised by the Sea Fisheries Protection Watchdog (SFPA), which the industry claims is unworkable and produces inaccurate records.
The other set of figures, which they say accurately records how much of, and what types of, fish are landed, is from a system the industry has used for decades.
Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue was asked by Mr Collins: “Will you set up an independent review of this?
“There's something wrong here and it needs to be put right.
“Would you, in the name of God, stand by the fisherman for once and say ‘to hell with this’?
“Fishermen's livelihoods are at the brink, Minister, and you're at the head of the ship. Don't let it sink.”
Mr McConalogue said the Sea-Fisheries and Maritime Jurisdiction Act 2006, which established the SFPA, expressly precludes him from getting involved in operational matters.
But he said Deputy Collins has been awarded powers under the 2006 Act to engage with the SFPA.
“The Act does provide for the committee to be the actual oversight mechanism for the SFPA.
“I think it'd be good for you to exercise that capacity to engage with them directly through the committee," Mr McConalogue said.
Issues with the SFPA system arise when pelagic fishermen, who target species like mackerel and herring, land mixed catches.
These are catches that contain the pelagic fishermen's target fish and what is known as ‘by-catch’, which is made up of species they did not intend to catch.
However, when by-catch is made up of a much smaller number of white fish than is recorded using the SFPA system, a disproportionate amount of white fish can be recorded as having been caught.
This then counts against the quota fishermen have to catch.
Analysis of catch data by the industry claims the SFPA system could be out by as much as 80% at times.
The SFPA has accepted concerns have been raised about the EU-approved sampling system it introduced in January this year.
But it maintains there is nothing wrong with it and that, if the industry says it is producing inaccurate figures, then the industry just needs to take more random samples until an accurate record can be found.