I would like to welcome you all, representatives of the many faces of the Irish seafood industry and the many and varied special interest groups exhibiting at the show, to what is, undoubtedly, one of the major showcase events of the Irish Fishing Industry.
I am pleased
For my own part I am particularly pleased to have been invited to launch FISH IRELAND 2006. This exhibition is a very appropriate way to display and showcase the many facets of the industry - and may I say - the location here in Killybegs, as always, provides an ideal setting.
I want to particularly thank the organisers of FISH IRELAND 2006, the Marine Times, especially Ann Murray and Mark McCarthy and, indeed, the entire staff for all the hard work they have put in over so many months leading up to today. The exhibition that we see here around us is a credit to that hard work and enthusiasm, as it is to all of the exhibitors who have contributed to what everyone can see will be a great ‘show’.
But I am also aware that I am speaking to a sector that over the past year or so has found itself in rough seas. Rising fuel prices, fish stocks under pressure in many cases, and the attraction of careers elsewhere in our economy have all placed strains on you. And yet, the strategic regional and national importance of the seafood sector remains as high as it has ever been.
This show, here today, is a visible expression of that importance. It demonstrates that while you are facing many difficulties, yours remains an industry with a solid future.
I am very aware too that more recently it has seemed at times as though we may have set our sails on different courses. And yet, throughout all of these difficulties, and particularly since I returned to the Department of the Marine last January, I have been struck, once again, by the deep sense of a need for a shared vision within the fishing and seafood industry. Everybody accepts that we all need to chart a collective course for the coming period to steer the Seafood industry to the end of this decade and beyond.
At the heart of this vision is an integrated market led seafood sector, based on innovation, product development and value maximisation, which is capable of growing and competing in the international seafood markets.
For the Seafood Processing & Marketing sectors that vision will need to recognise the crucial need for better R&D, new technologies and new product development. Innovation in these areas must be encouraged and strongly supported. Advances in new product technology and improvements in quality assurance to achieve the highest possible level of value generation within the Irish seafood industry is a necessary and vital building block.
We must also recognise that companies engaged in restructuring must be helped achieve their goals. Real restructuring is not a threat but a necessity if we are to ensure enterprises are more competitive in an increasingly globalised sector.
Our ultimate objective is to secure a consolidated, vibrant and profitable sector. A sector that can retain high value production in this country, and consequently, maintain and grow employment in coastal communities.
That is why I have asked an eminent team of three independent people to engage in in-depth consultation with all stakeholders and to come up with a visionary Seafood Development Strategy for the period 2007-2013. This strategy is to be completed over the coming months, so as to feed into the new National Development Plan which the Government is drawing up for the 2007 – 2013 period. It is important that the vital needs of the Seafood Sector are reflected in the new national plan so that the sector can access the necessary development funding in coming years. To be fully reflected in the new National Development Plan, we need this independent far- reaching strategy for the sector.
Given the importance of the initiative, we wanted the Group to be chaired by a very eminent and committed Irish person, with wide experience in the Irish and Global food industry. On that basis, I was delighted when Mr Noel Cawley, the former Chief Executive of the Irish Dairy Board, agreed to Chair the Group. Noel will be accompanied on the Group by Mr Ruan O’Bric, the Chief Executive of Udaras Na Gaeltachta for 25 years and by Mr Joey Murrin who needs no introduction to anybody here.
Noel Cawley was Chief Executive of the Irish Dairy Board, which employs 3,000 people worldwide and has a turnover of €2 billion, with purchases from Ireland totalling 40% of the total. The Board has established international food brands such as Kerrygold, Dublin Cheese and Pilgrims Choice and markets products in seventy countries and services the food ingredients markets and commodity markets throughout the world. Noel has been a member of five specialist groups set up by successive Ministers of Agriculture and Food since 1980, including the most recent in 2004. Because of his wide and successful experience in the global food markets and his strong commitment to the development of the Irish Food industry, I am convinced Noel is the ideal candidate to lead the development of a strategy for the Seafood sector for 2007 – 2013. He will be very ably supported by Ruan and Joey who bring vast experience of rural development and the fishing industry to the team.
The Seafood Development Strategy exercise is kicking off today and a series of regional meetings are planned for July in Wexford, Kerry, Galway and Donegal and I hope that there will be wide-ranging participation from all interests at the meetings. Individuals and organisations will also be asked to make written submissions to the Group and further meetings are being planned.
This strategy drawn up by the Group will map out, on a prioritised basis, all the necessary initiatives, including rationalisation and restructuring, required to achieve our shared vision. Not only that, it will identify and quantify the funding requirements necessary to support these initiatives.
I acknowledge the immediacy of the challenges facing the sector, but I equally acknowledge the sense of urgency and commitment to tackle these problems on your part. That is why I have no hesitation in rejecting the claim that we differ about where we are going. My message today is simple, lets all agree on where we are going, therefore “now is the time to pull together”, to reset our sails on the same tack, and to the same end goal.
I think we all acknowledge and accept that a transformation across all sectors of the industry is required. No one part in isolation can achieve the overall desired end result. We must therefore be single-minded in our approach and we must work together.
But let us be under no illusion. Ours is a difficult task! Were it not so, then we would probably have achieved our goals long ago. But that aside, I recall the words of that great Irishman, Ernest Shackleton, who during his days as one of the World greatest explorers and facing huge odds, put it simply “Difficulties he said are just things to overcome”. And it is exactly that determination we need now, more than ever, in order to tackle the problems that we face today.
The context for the Seafood Sector is moving on internationally and we now need to also move on at the National level. The 2002 review of the Common Fisheries Policy provided for the establishment of the Regional Advisory Councils so that stakeholders now have a strong voice in decision making at EU level. I believe that the Regional Advisory Councils are working very well and will continue to growing strength so that your interests are fully taken on board when decisions are made at EU level. I am happy to say, that last week in Brussels, we, along with our European partners, agreed a significant package of measures to support financially the realisation of this shared goal.
The EUROPEAN FISHERIES FUND will, from next year, replace the previous structural funds. It contains all of the essential elements needed to support you as an industry as you go forward. However, the financial support that we harness from the EUROPEAN FISHERIES FUND, is only part of the overall package I am putting together. I am also actively engaged in ensuring that the new NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN 2007-2013, shortly to be launched by Government, will contain significant support for the seafood and wider marine sector. Clearly the development needs of the sector and the funding requirements will be determined by the Seafood Strategy which I spoke of earlier.
In addition, I have decided to introduce, without delay, a number of critical support schemes that I consider are urgently needed. I am here today, announcing these significant initiatives to help the fishing industry immediately. These schemes will see significant grant aid made available:
To continue the work of decommissioning a significant portion of our older whitefish fleet, so that those of you remaining in the whitefish fleet, can operate in a climate where your catching power, your economic requirements, and the resources available to the State, under the Common Fisheries Policy, are in better balance. To date, 30 fishing vessels have been decommissioned under the first round of the decommissioning scheme. €10.9 million in grant aid has been paid in respect of these vessels and approximately €29 million in grant aid remains available to fund the decommissioning of additional whitefish vessels. The 2006 decommissioning scheme sets itself the target of removing a further 7,600 Gross Tonnes from the polyvalent and beam trawl segments of the whitefish fleet. This, together with the 21 vessels (3,354 Gross Tonnes) already removed from the whitefish sector and the 9 vessels (5,900 kilowatts)removed from the scallop sector accomplished during the first phase of decommissioning, represents the full programme of decommissioning recommended by Mr. Padraig White’s report of July 2005.
In tandem with this new round of decommissioning, I am today launching a scheme to immediately make available financial assistance to our younger fishermen, to assist them introduce their first vessel. Young fishermen remain central to this industry. This scheme involves the payment of a grant of up to €50,000 to fishermen under 35 years who wish to buy a fishing boat for the first time.
The final scheme that I am launching here today, underscores my commitment to support those of you willing to make the change-over to more environmentally friendly fishing gear and more fuel-efficient equipment on board your vessels. This new scheme provides grant aid of up to 40% for a range of equipment, from environmentally friendly fishing nets to gear monitoring systems that improve fuel efficiency.
Environmentally responsible fishing practises, certified environmental management systems, internationally accredited product quality assurance schemes, organic status and innovative product forms, all effectively communicated to the consumer must all be accommodated within our new strategy.
Another goal and indeed a key to the success of the industry in the future, will be the differentiation of Irish seafood products from international competition in an increasingly discerning market place, both at home and abroad.
Each of us here today, has a part to play in managing our natural resources more responsibly. The role of Government, my Department, and the various State Agencies in this process, is to manage the necessary transformation in an integrated way.
I know that you are totally focused and committed to achieving the end goal. As Minister, I want to leave you in no doubt that I and this Government are equally committed to taking a central role in this task. Our shared mission is to give effect to the principal of sustainable development, in a manner that garners support from you our traditional stakeholders, as well as the broader public. Our shared task is to pull together towards 2013 and I hope that today I have set out a path whereby we can all move forward together.
ENDS