Irish Fisheries Minister Tony Killeen is meeting with EU Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg in Brussels this week to secure what he calls “a fair deal” for Irish fishermen in negotiations between the European Union and Norway.
Killeen requested the meeting after learning that the negotiations would “seriously” impact Ireland.
The deal between the EU and Norway would involve a significant loss of fishing quotas, including 2,000 metric tons of mackerel and 2,500 metric tons of horse mackerel, for Irish fishermen.
“These stocks are the mainstay of the Donegal pelagic fishing fleet and are also important for the south west fishing fleet and for fish factories on the western seaboard,” said Killeen. “I explained that the deal on the table would mean that Irish fishermen would be paying is lost fishing quotas for the extra cod quotas for a range of member states, including Spain and Portugal. I pointed out that a deal agreed on this basis would be completely unacceptable to Ireland and would not be justified.”
Borg agreed to immediately contact negotiators and explain Killeen’s argument, and he also agreed to look at alternatives to pay for the Arctic cod transferred to the EU, according to Killeen.
