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Irish Fishing and Seafood Alliance Alleges EU Information About Weighing Is False

The Irish Fishing and Seafood Alliance has obtained a copy of the EU Audit Report on which the Commission has based its decision to withdraw the Irish weighing derogation. The EU, the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority and the Government have denied the major Irish fishing organisations access to the report.

On the IFSA website the CEO of the Alliance, Cormac Burke, says: “Having re-read the entire 70-page report several times, my immediate comment is that in the EU report, which was largely based on information contributed to them by the SFPA, at NO POINT are the demersal (whitefish) or shellfish sectors alleged to have been involved in any infringements – immediately leading to the question as to why are these sectors now being included in the SFPA’s new directive of weighing at point of landing for ALL sectors.

“Whilst being an obvious point, this should not be allowed to cause any division between the sectors by the SFPA’s efforts to punish all for the unsubstatiated allegations waged against the pelagic sector – as it is well known that the regime of ‘divide and conquer’ has always been the preferred modus operandi of the administrators of the Irish fishing industry for past decades.

“So, here’s the facts that reveal the reality - the reports that the media, the public and the industry have been repeatedly fed suggesting that Ireland has constantly ‘overfished’ and committed ‘systematic infringements’ according to the SFPA and Department of Marine are simply unfounded.

“They are based on conjecture and fanciful supposition.

“This is a deflection exercise to save the blushes of the SFPA and the successive Governments that have allowed this agency to career out of control since its inception. “