The Minister for the Marine, Mr Ahern, says he has won the support of the Greek EU presidency for dealing with the row over the Irish Box at EU level.
The Minister hopes to raise Ireland's position on maintaining the 50-mile fishery exclusion zone at next Monday's agriculture and fisheries council in Brussels. Mr Ahern travelled to Athens earlier this week to brief his Greek counterpart, Mr Georgios Drys.
Ireland is seeking resolution of the Irish Box issue through the EU, rather than bilaterally, although the European Commission had left it to Ireland and Spain to sort it out. The Minister says that the Greek presidency recognised the importance of the box on ecological grounds, and accepted that it should be dealt with during its presidency.
A spokesman for the Minister said that Ireland was still "holding firm" on its position that the box should stay, in spite of the legal opinion accepted by the EU Commission which allowed open access to Spanish vessels from January 1st.
Spanish industry representatives have maintained that there will be no increased effort in the area, but have also acknowledged that they no longer wish to abide by the 40-vessel limit in the zone at any one time.
Mr Sean O'Donoghue of the Killybegs Fishermen's Organisation (KFO) gave a cautious reaction yesterday to the outcome of the Minister's discussions in Athens. "The Minister has secured Greek agreement to raise the Irish Box under 'any other business' at Monday's council, but as yet the only proposal on the table is that from the European Commission last December, which we oppose," Mr O'Donoghue said.
"If the Greek presidency produces a position paper, that will be a step forward. We will then have to see what it says in writing." Mr O'Donoghue said that it could be March before there is a concrete alternative proposal on the Irish Box - by which time Spain could be stepping up its effort in the zone, particularly in relation to hake fishing. Meanwhile, efforts are continuing to avert imposition of the new days-at-sea restriction on whitefish vessels in the north-west.
The restriction, which the EU wished to see in place by February 1st, has been described as "totally illogical" by the KFO, as it penalises vessels using larger net mesh. "If this restriction was linked to conservation of cod, we would be more supportive, but it is not,"Mr O'Donoghue said.
The KFO is proposing a modified version of the Irish Sea cod recovery plan for the north-west area - EU fishery area VI - as an alternative. If the EU was genuinely committed to conservation it would have to accept this, Mr O'Donoghue maintains.
"Under the current system, industrial vessels can still fish for 23 days a month, while smaller vessels must tie up. That makes no sense at all," he emphasised.
