Irish Fishing Leaders To Meet With Minister Over Mackerel Crisis

How the Crisis Escalated

The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), Europe’s leading fisheries science body, issues annual advice on stock health. It has now found mackerel to be below safe biological limits.

Irish leaders place the blame squarely on years of reckless overfishing by Norway, the Faroe Islands, Iceland and the UK. These states have unilaterally set inflated quotas against scientific advice while the EU failed to act. In 2024, Norway alone caught nearly 200,000 tonnes of blue whiting in Irish waters under EU access deals, while Ireland’s quota was less than 60,000 tonnes.

Since Brexit, Ireland has already lost 26 percent of the value of its pelagic quotas, worth over €180 million in mackerel alone at today’s prices. Despite this, the sector invested more than €70 million in modernisation since the Trade and Cooperation Agreement. With new cuts now looming, many factories and vessels face closure.

Impact on Ireland

Just five years ago, Ireland’s mackerel quota was 75,000 tonnes. After Brexit and other recent cuts, a further 70 percent reduction would leave just 11,000 tonnes, collapsing the industry. Pelagic vessels, many based in Killybegs, risk being tied up or scrapped. Processing plants, hauliers and service industries would be hit hard, with thousands of jobs at risk across coastal communities.

The crisis extends beyond mackerel. Cuts to blue whiting and boarfish will compound the pressure on Ireland’s pelagic sector, with knock-on impacts for both offshore and inshore activity, as well as the whitefish sector, where several species already face zero TAC advice.

Industry Demands

Fishing leaders are demanding an enforceable new sharing regime for mackerel that reflects real catches, alongside measures for blue whiting and boarfish. They also want the EU to block third-country access to its waters, impose trade sanctions, and end what they see as an incoherent and weak approach to defending member states’ interests.

The IFPO insists that Ireland must push the Commission at the December EU Fisheries Council to restore historical arrangements and prioritise member state protection when quotas are cut.

“This is not just about fleets,” said O’Donnell. “It is about entire communities. If the EU will not defend Ireland’s coastal economies, then it is complicit in their destruction.”