Facts in numbers - - a true picture of the alarming current state of the Irish fishing industry under EU ‘management’
60,000 - the volume of blue whiting quota the Irish pelagic fleet is allowed annually by the EU out of the 1.7 million tonnes taken out of Irish and international waters West of Ireland by EU and non EU vessels every year;
8,000 - - - due to ever-reducing EU quotas allocated to Ireland every year, 8,000 is the number of ‘working hours’ clocked up on the engine of an average 10-year-old Irish pelagic vessel - - approximately one quarter of that recorded on pelagic vessels from other EU and non EU nations who have quotas in Irish waters;
280 - - - the average number of working days at sea per annum that the pelagic fleet of EU Member State Denmark need to catch their large quotas whilst Ireland, equally an EU Member State, have quotas so small that the average number of days at sea for an Irish pelagic vessel is 40 or less;
82% - - - reduction in profitability of Ireland’s whitefish (demersal) fleet (2024 statistics);
68% - - - the amount of reduction in the EU-allocated mackerel quota that each vessel in the Irish pelagic fleet has suffered in the past eight years;
58% - - - the fall in production in Irish pelagic processing factories over the past two years;
57 - - - the number of EU and non EU vessels pelagic vessels recorded working in Irish waters one one particular day last week ….. THREE of these were Irish;
30% - - - the percentage of Irish whitefish vessels that were voluntarily decommissioned to allow the remaining Irish vessels to have enough quota to survive….. after which the EU proceeded to then reduce the Irish quotas once again;
17 - - - the number of hours in total (several different tows) that it took one Killybegs’ pelagic trawler this month to fill his minuscule mackerel quota for the entire year;
9 - - - the number of weeks (January 1st to March 3rd) that it took one particular Irish pelagic trawler to fulfil his total EU allocated quota of mackerel, scad, blue whiting and boarfish - - - and this nine week period includes time tied up unloading catches or tied ashore due to bad weather - - - the total number of working days at sea was in fact 35 before the vessel had to finish its operations for the rest of 2025;
ZERO - the amount of patience, trust or belief that Irish fishermen and processors have in waiting for the EU Commission to finally show some commitment towards rectifying the injustices of the decades-long Common Fisheries Policy that benefits every EU Member State with large quotas in Irish waters while the Irish fishing industry is facing bankruptcy due to incredibly small EU allocated quotas year on year.
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