Overfishing under-thought....

http://www.highlandradio.com/news.php?a ... =000002500

Spanish Trawlers a threat to Donegal's fishing industry

Fine Gael is accusing the government of failing to adequately protect fish stocks in the waters off the Donegal Coast.

The Party?s Marine Spokesperson claims measures are not being taken to ensure Spanish trawlers encroaching on Irish waters are not having a negative impact on the local fishing industry.

John Perry believes that development in Killybegs is being held back with the government?s failure to act.

Is it just me, or does the fact that we have quotas, closed areas, limits on days at sea for our domestic fleet not indicate a problem with fish stocks?
And it's widely acknowledged that the Irish are every bit as bad as the Spanish when it comes to fishery offences.

It's this sort of meaningless political posturing that's killing this country. Is it supposed to be somehow better overall if the Spanish were blocked from our waters so that the domestic fleet could continue depleting the fish stocks unopposed? That we could pack more fishing boats into Killybegs if it wasn't for that rotten johnny foreigner?

I cannot believe that in this day and age anyone past their teens would be expected to blindly believe such a blatantly empty and xenophobic statement. Shows how much respect certain politicians have for your intelligence.

Conservation in this country has little hope of success while we elect people like that.

Last edited by x on Tue Apr 11, 2006 8:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.

fair poay to highland radio and the like for doling out that rubbish as well on a regular basis

symbiosis - one needs the other to perpetuate the spin

If you go back to the negotiations for Ireland's entry to the EU in 1973 - back then we had a miniscule fishing industry, mostly half-deckers and small trawlers fishing inshore. To get the best deal for the farming industry, which back then was the backbone of Irish society, the government of the day basically sold out the fishing industry - 18% of Europe's fishing waters are in the Irish economic zone (200 mile limit), but over the last 30 years we have had only 4% of the EU quota. Fishermen from other countries have made huge profits at the expense of Irish fishermen, whose industry was not allowed to develop as it could have due to competition. I read an article about 3 years ago - from '73 to '03 the Irish state received approx. 40 billion euro in EU subsidies, while during that period other EU states are estimated to have made 180 billion euro on fish caught in Irish waters. Makes a mockery of the "Europe was good for us" argument, and part of the reason many people voted no to the Nice Treaty.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the Irish fishing industry should have been allowed to get so big. Its not big in comparison to Spain, France, Britain, etc. The real problem is over exploitation becasue stocks were mismanaged. Contrast with Iceland, who didn't join the EU in order to preserve their fishing grounds for their own fishing industry. Sustainable stock management and fleet management (transferable quotas, etc) means that their cod fishery is still in good condition, while cod elsewhere has collapsed.

Just a few points - may help people understand why fishermen are "xenophobic" and hate "Johnny foreigner"....

aquis communitaire - they were never going to give us anything for nothing were they

we were the sick man of europe - something had to give

just like all the new nations that joined - they had to sign the above as well - otherwise no show

a french/german dominated united states of europe