Inshore fishermen are due to state their case about the crisis experienced by their members to TDs and senators later this month (Feb).

Members of the Dáil and Seanad have been invited to hear the delegation from the National Inshore Fishermen’s Association (NIFA) speaking to the chamber via the audio-visual room on February 28th.

NIFA spokesman Michael Desmond said that members have already outlined the serious difficulties in the sector in a presentation to an Oireachtas joint committee last month.

The Government’s failure to implement a national inshore fishing strategy drawn up by Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM) has been disastrous for the sector, the 14 members of Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, food and Marine were told.

NIFA outlined how shellfish markets have collapsed, margins have tightened, there are new restrictions on catching pollack, and many boats have had no earnings for the past two months.

The NIFA delegation was led by Michael Desmond, accompanied by board members John Menarry and Eamon Dixon.

Their presentation at a full parliamentary hearing comes just several weeks after a new public consultation on a proposed six-mile ban by Irish marine minister Charlie McConalogue was opened.

It is the second such public consultation on the issue- a previous transition to a ban on trawling inside six nautical miles for vessels over 18 metres was overturned by a legal challenge.

NIFA represents over 200 Irish inshore vessels, with 150 members extending from Donegal to Cork and Kerry.

The association was recognised as an EU seafood producer organisation in January 2023.

The Minister for Agriculture Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue T.D., today announced the recognition of the National Inshore Fishermen’s Association (NIFA) as an EU Producer Organisation.

Announcing the recognition of the NIFA as a Producer Organisation, Minister McConalogue said, “In our Programme for Government, we committed to supporting the inshore fishing fleet in generating greater marketing and promotional capacity by facilitating the establishment of a Producer Organisation for these smaller fishing vessels, thereby providing additional opportunity for the island and coastal communities involved in the inshore sector. In 2021, my Department recognised the Irish Islands Marine Resource Organisation (IIMRO) as a Producer Organisation which focuses on our offshore islands. I am very pleased to announce that my Department has now completed the process to formally recognise the National Inshore Fishermen’s Association (NIFA) as an EU Seafood producer organisation. The inshore fishing sector is a vital part of our coastal economies and communities and I am committed to supporting this sector and our inshore fishing families.”

Seafood Producer organisations are officially recognised bodies, set up by groups of fishery or aquaculture producers to manage the activity of their members. Producer organisations can play an important role in the market, improving the conditions for the placing on the market of their members’ fishery and aquaculture products, improving economic returns for their members, stabilising the market, avoiding and reducing as far as possible unwanted catches, contributing to the elimination of illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and generally coordinating the activities of their primary producer members.

Regulation 1379/2013 on the Common Organisation of the Market for Fishery and Aquaculture Products (the CMO Regulation) provides an EU legal framework for the recognition of Seafood Producer Organisations. A group must apply for recognition as a Producer Organisation to the relevant competent national authority. The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has been designated the role of national competent authority for the purpose of this regulation.

The war in Ukraine and the cost of living crisis have led to a collapse in the processed shrimp market, the National Inshore Fishermen’s Association (NIFA) says.

“In previous years with shrimp, good prices would normally be expected in the lead-up to Christmas, but they are now no longer being purchased either,” the NIFA says.

“ This puts an added strain on inshore fishermen, many in punts of only 16 to 18 feet long, and their families at the worst time of the year,” it says.

“Already this winter, inshore fishermen have had to deal with poorer than usual weather conditions. The almost traditional frosty fortnight at the end of November/early December failed to materialise,” the association says.

“ Instead, it was replaced by a run of gales and storms since mid-October which is only now abating. This permitted fishing in only very short windows of workable weather, often as much as a fortnight apart.”

“The foundation of the fishermen's current predicament was laid early in the year when restrictions on the already meagre 400-tonne allowance for hook and line mackerel made the fishery uneconomical to prosecute,” it says.

It notes that buyers had to “resort to Spain to provide quality line-caught fish for their discerning customers”.

The association says its members have also been hit by fuel cost increases, while bait prices have also “soared” as larger whitefish vessels have taken advantage of tie-up schemes.

As a result, most bait is now imported.

NIFA chair Michael Desmond says the only bright light has been the lifting of restrictions on the spurdog fishery after an 11-year closure. A quota of 1,874 tonnes for spurdog has been set for Irish fishers in 2023, according to Minister for Marine Charlie McConalogue.

Mr Desmond said that the NIFA agreed with setting a quota, as the species is long-lived, slow-growing and late-maturing species and vulnerable to over-fishing. Scientific advice from the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES) recommended setting a quota for 2023 to allow for reopening of the fishery..”

However, due to the various challenges facing the inshore sector, crewmen are now leaving, and replacement labour is proving difficult, if not impossible, to procure, he said.

“The inshore fleet, by far the largest sector of the national fleet, is now under severe pressure,” the NIFA has said in a statement.

“The larger whitefish vessels have already received four tranches of financial support. Farmers and almost every other sector have all been supported, and the inshore fishermen are feeling neglected at this point in time,” it said.

The European Commission has recently adopted the € 258m European Maritime Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF) seafood development programme, and has said that resources are available to mitigate the impact of the war in Ukraine, he said.

“Surely, we can also be financially supported through this scheme. At the moment, 91% of the fleet is inshore. If this could be divided between the affected inshore boats through the BIM grant porthole system, it would be an immediate, but short-term, fix,” he said.