Fishing industry organisations have expressed disappointment at the method by which Minister of State for the Marine John Browne intends to penalise the boats from the mackerel fleet for alleged illegal landings.
A number of vessels identified as having made illegal landings into Scottish ports last year are to have their quotas or allowable catches reduced, Mr Browne confirmed last night.
None of the vessels has been prosecuted to date.
Already, some 6,578 tonnes have been deducted from the total 2006 mackerel quota of 48,000 tonnes, and Mr Browne is proposing to make further deductions from about half a dozen vessels deemed to have landed illegally
However, the Killybegs Fishermen's Organisation and the Irish Fish Producers' Organisation said last night that the entire pelagic (mackerel/herring) fleet of 23 vessels would suffer, as only 13,500 tonnes of the total quota now remains for the autumn fishery.
Currently, vessels cannot start the autumn season for mackerel due to the department's deliberations on the issue, and the fishing organisations said that situation could have been sorted much earlier.
Mr Browne said he intended to write immediately to the individual vessel owners involved and would examine "such representations as may be made on an individual basis".
