Compensation call for NI fishermen

Conservation measures have affected fishing fleets

Northern Ireland assembly members have urged the agriculture minister to provide compensation for fishermen, amid a five week EU ban on catching white fish.

The motion tabled by the DUP claimed that the European directive was forcing crews to fish for prawn, and in the process young white fish were also being caught and thrown back dead.

Assembly members backed a motion on Tuesday calling on Agriculture Minister Brid Rodgers to compensate fishermen prevented from going out to sea under a European Union programme to build up cod stocks in the Irish Sea.

During the debate, the minister was repeatedly urged to follow the example of the Dutch, Belgians, France, Spain and Irish Republic to seek EU approval for financial aid for those wishing to remain in the white fish industry and tied up at ports because of the conservation measures.

Brid Rodgers: Urged to seek compensation for fishing industry

The DUP's Jim Shannon who proposed the motion, claimed the problems of fishermen on the County Down coastline had been overlooked while the difficulties in farming understandably got a lot of attention.

He said they needed short term aid to survive.

He said: "Government has failed consistently to provide such essential assistance while the sovereign governments of other EU member states have provided crucial finance to support their fishing fleets and we know who those are - Belgium, Netherlands, France, Spain and the Republic of Ireland."

Agriculture committee chairman the DUP's Ian Paisley criticised European Union fishing policy, claiming it was depriving fishermen of their means of earning a living and trying to put them "out of business altogether".

The NIUP's Cedric Wilson said the Dutch Government had struck a deal on an aid package with its fishermen which he said was "exactly the type of scheme which we are seeking."

He said fishermen in Ardglass, Kilkeel and Portavogie were looking to the assembly to see if it could be equally effective.

Industry

However, Mrs Rodgers rejected claims she had failed the industry by not seeking EU approval for the scheme.

"I have been working very hard and been consulting the industry on measures that I am able to pursue to help the industry in the short and long term," she said.

The minister acknowledged the European Union allowed for the possibility that compensation could be sought but it was not possible now for Northern Ireland because the UK did not make an application in time.

"What I can and will undertake to do is to carry out an assessment of the effects of this year's closures and to consult with other fisheries ministers on future arrangements.

She said: "Could I also remind the house that those arrangements have to be agreed between the four ministers in the UK because it is a decision which has to be taken on a UK-wide basis?

"It is not just for me alone. I have to do it with the other ministers."