Mr Kevin McHugh has suffered a setback in his plan to avail of European Union fishing rights to operate Atlantic Dawn, his new £50 million (#63 million) factory trawler, in West African waters. Mr McHugh has had to make a private agreement with the government of Mauritania to fish in its territory because the boat is not being allowed take advantage of the EU's agreement with the country, according to his son, Mr Karl McHugh.

The 145-metre long vessel, which is financed by Bank of Ireland and a syndicate of Irish banks, was built specifically to fish under EU agreements with third-world nations and is not licensed to fish in EU waters. The financial viability of the project is not affected by the problem with the EU, according to Mr Karl McHugh. "We are working down there under a private agreement. Our preference would be to work under the EU agreement," he said.

He said that the problem stemmed from the fact that although Atlantic Dawn was registered in Ireland it did not have an EU fishing quota. The Dutch and Spanish boats that fish under the EU agreement with Mauritania have quotas to catch fish in European waters and are recognised as part of the EU's international fleet, which allows them to avail of international agreements. At present Ireland does not have an international element to its fleet under the Common Fisheries Policy and Atlantic Dawn is not eligible to fish under the international agreements.

Officials from the Department of the Marine will travel to Brussels this morning to press the case for Mr McHugh's boat to be recognised as part of the international fleet, said a spokesman for the Department of the Marine yesterday.

A spokesman for the Fisheries Directorate in Brussels contradicted the Department yesterday and denied that the Commission was not letting Mr McHugh fish under its agreement with Mauritania. He said it was open to the Atlantic Dawn to avail of the EU's quota in Mauritanian waters, but the actual licence was the subject of negotiation with the government of Mauritania. He added that the Irish boat was not being treated any differently to other EU boats.

"There is no problem. There are still fish available under the quota," he said. The Atlantic Dawn was built to fish for pelagic species off the coast of West Africa. The target species include mackerel, horse mackerel, sardinell, sardines and anchovies which are processed on board the ship, frozen and sold in West Africa.

The project has been enthusiastically backed by the Minister for the Marine, Mr Fahey, who "launched" the ship's hull at a shipyard in Norway last February. He also greeted the boat when it visited Dublin at the start of the month before the vessel headed to Killybegs and then Las Palmas in the Canaries, where it is based.