West Cork fishing communities are bracing themselves for hundreds of job losses over the coming three months as a State compensation plan to cut a third of the Irish whitefish fleet gets underway.

The compensation plan, initiated yesterday, Wednesday, February 20, by the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries, Mary Coughlan, will provide aid and tax relief in the region of €21 million.

The decommissioning scheme, which follows on from months of intense negotiations, is designed to reduce the fleet by one-third so as to protect the dwindling fish stocks and protect the future viability of the industry.

John Nolan, Manager, Castletownbere Fishermen’s Co-op warned of significant job losses in West Cork following the EU's approval of the government scheme. "We're expecting up to 200 job losses, with an additional 50 to 60 job losses on the shore. In many ways we've been treated like criminals, pirates and drug barons in recent years. “The package goes some way to making up for the way this government has treated fishermen, but we still feel let down. We welcome the package but with fishermen being taken out of the industry we would hope that a training scheme be put in place to fully prepare them. No official training schemes have been offered to encourage the decommissioning as yet."

The provision of €21 million for the scheme falls considerably short of the €58 million earmarked by the government in last years €600 million national seafood strategy. However, the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries have said that the €21 million will primarily cover the introductory year and that the sum is likely to be supplemented subject to the initial response of the initiative.

Fishermen interested in decommissioning are being given three months to lodge their application in order to take advantage of the current deal on offer. Anyone who fails to apply within the deadline will be subsequently offered inferior terms.

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