Call for upgrade at Ardglass harbour

Call for upgrade at Ardglass harbour

1 January 2019

THE need for major improvements at Ardglass harbour to allow significantly larger vessels to enter the port has been highlighted by former South Down MP Margaret Ritchie.

Her comments come after last month’s annual EU Fisheries Council meeting in Brussels which determines how much fish can be landed at the local port and at the neighbouring harbours of Kilkeel and Portavogie.

EU chiefs have decided to reduce prawn quotas by just over 30% to ensure the species “stays within sustainable levels”, while the herring quota has been reduced by 2%.

The Fisheries Council also determines how many days boats can put to sea, but the December meeting will have been the last UK fishermen were represented at ahead of the Brexit at the end of March.

Welcoming some of the outcomes from the Brussels negotiations, Miss Ritchie has urged British and Irish governments to resolve what she described as “outstanding problems” in the fisheries sector to build the economies at the three Co Down fishing ports.

She explained that the Fisheries Council consists of EU Fisheries Ministers who decide on the annual quota allocations for range of species — including prawns and white fish — which are the main staple of Northern Ireland fishermen.

Miss Ritchie said she was concerned there has been a slight decrease in the amount of prawns which can be landed locally, after a series of successive quota increases over recent years.

“It is important that the British Government has realistic proposals capable of implementation in place to safeguard and grow our local industry,” said Ms Ritchie.

“There are also other fishing issues that require resolution as they present ongoing challenges to the catching and processing sectors. They include the Voisinage Agreement with the Irish Government to allow Co Down fishermen to resume fishing in Irish Sea waters. There is also the need for  improvements to harbour infrastructure at Ardglass and Kilkeel to allow larger boats to land fish.”

Miss Ritchie said the prawn quota reduction was more to do with the species being exempted from so-called discard ban.

She added: “It is vitally important that our local fishing industry in the catching and processing sectors is allowed to continue to grow and develop.  

“The Government needs to continue with a positive working relationship with the industry to allow the economic sectors in Ardglass and Kilkeel to be nurtured to ensure existing jobs are sustained and new employment opportunities are realised.”

Mr Alan McCulla, chief executive of the Anglo-North Irish Fish Producers Organisation/Sea Source,  believes the outcome of the annual negotiation on catch quotas “puts Northern Ireland’s fishermen in a good starting position for the next phase in our relationship with the EU”.

He said the agreements reached at the Fisheries Council meeting offered “some positives and some negatives” for the Irish Sea, with the December negotiations described by the Department of Agriculture Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) as “one of the most difficult councils in recent years”.

A spokesperson for the government department said it was vitally important to ensure that sufficient quota was obtained for all Irish Sea fish species to enable them to land all the fish they catch from the start of the New Year, particularly whiting which is a by-catch in the prawn fishery.

“The EU Commission initially proposed an Irish Sea whiting quota of 612 tonnes but this was successfully negotiated up by 19% to 727 tonnes, with agreement to carry out a further review of the quota in the new year.

The government department spokesperson said the deal “ensures that there are now workable solutions to alleviate the pressure for fishermen while preventing fish from being wastefully discarded unnecessarily”.