‘Devastating’: Killybegs braced for quota collapse as fishermen fear for future

Killybegs is bracing itself for the impact of what would be a devastating cut to Ireland’s mackerel quota.

The quota is set to be reduced by a whopping 70% in 2026, while large cuts to blue whiting and boarfish quotas have also been proposed.

Mackerel is Ireland’s most valuable catch and worth €94 million in exports. Such a reduction could see that figure slashed by as much as €66 million.

Killybegs-based Donegal County Councillor Niamh Kennedy said the quota cut would represent a “devastating blow to Donegal”.

The Independent representative pointed out that the fishing industry creates large employment in knock-on industries such as net-making, electronics and on-shore factories and transport as well as local shops and businesses.

“If this keeps going, there will be boats for sale,” Councillor Kennedy told Donegal Live. “There are hundreds of people employed in the onshore industries, not to mention the fishermen themselves. That could all be gone. The boats could be gone.

“I was talking to one skipper, a boat owner, and those people are very worried now. They just don’t know what is ahead of them.”

The recommended cut was based on advice from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), which is Europe’s leading scientific body for marine ecosystems. ICES says that mackerel stocks are below safe biological limits - something that the Irish Fish Producers Organisation (IFPO) says is the result of years of overfishing, particularly by non-EU coastal states.

“The scientific recommendation issued this morning is a hammer blow,” says IFPO CEO Aodh O’Donnell. “It could wipe out Ireland’s pelagic (offshore) fishing fleet and fish processors. Sustainability is paramount but a failure to stop non-EU States from overfishing mackerel has created this crisis.”

Mackerel is only part of the unfolding situation as ICEA has also advised large cuts for blue whiting (41%) and boarfish (22%).

The IFPOP say that Norway, the Faroe Islands and Russia - which they call the “rogue players of the North’ - acted against scientific advice and with “impunity” in fishing large swathes of a shared migratory stock of mackerel. 

Mr O’Donnell said: “They believed the EU would never apply sanctions to them. In fact, the EU inadvertently approved this overfishing by trading access to EU fishing waters with Norway, for other species, such as blue whiting.”

It was only five years ago that Ireland’s mackerel quota was in excess of 75,000 tonnes, but that was redacted under a post-Brexit deal by around 26%. A further two years of reductions followed.

Councillor Kennedy said: “If stocks are low and the scientific advice is what it is then we have to take a look at it, but certainly we cannot allow other countries to just come in and fish. This has been happening all along.

“Our quotas were quite restricted anyway pre-Brexit. We were always quite limited, but now since Brexit and with other cuts, this will be the demise of the fishing industry unless something is done.

“There have to be sanctions for these big boats. We are seeing it happen amid the frustration of our own fishermen with boats tied to the pier.”

Councillor Kennedy says there is a frustration and a feeling that “no one is fighting our corner in a reasonable and sustainable way. We are very isolated with the richest waters around us. It is very frustrating, but there will be no fish for anyone if it is not managed and maintained.”

The Chairperson of the Killybegs Fishermen’s Organisation, Ciaran Doherty, said that the increase in fishing effort in the summer has “wrecked the fishery”.

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Mr Doherty said: “The number of Russian, Icelandic, Faroese and Greenlandic vessels operating in international waters has almost doubled. The Russians are being facilitated by foreign companies who are handling their fish with little or no monitoring. Now the science confirms what is plain to see - the stock is close to collapse. 

“The situation has gone beyond words and negotiations that have constantly failed to deliver an agreement.”

The KFO have called on Timmy Dooley, the Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, to discuss a package of support measures.