NIFA warns the Irish inshore sector is facing permanent decline as Desmond urges income stabilisation to protect fishermen and coastal communities
Desmond Tells Committee Fleet Cannot Survive Without Stabilisation
The National Inshore Fisheries Association (NIFA) has warned that Ireland’s inshore fishing sector is facing structural collapse unless the State introduces an income stabilisation mechanism to address climate disruption, quota losses and rising costs.
In an opening statement delivered to an Oireachtas Committee, Michael Desmond, Chairman of NIFA, said the proposal before members was not drafted by consultants or policy advisers but developed directly by the fishing community.
“The document before you did not come from consultants, economists, or policy advisers. It came from meetings around harbours, kitchen tables, wheelhouses, and co-ops all around the coast, from Donegal to Kerry to Waterford, where fishermen sat down together over the past two years and asked a very simple question: How do we survive the next five years?” he said.
Desmond told the Committee that the pressures facing the inshore sector are cumulative rather than cyclical.
“For the first time in living memory, the problem facing the inshore sector is not a bad season… It is not a bad market… It is not a single regulation… It is the combination of everything at once, and it has pushed the sector to the brink,” he said.
Irish Fishing News Patrons 2026
Proposal Developed From Harbour-Level Consultation
Desmond outlined how the proposal emerged from repeated discussions with fishermen across coastal communities over the past two years.
Fishermen have experienced continuous quota losses from annual negotiations, major increases in operating costs — fuel, bait, insurance and maintenance — severe price volatility, and a drastic reduction in safe fishing days due to weather.
He told the Committee that a common message was heard in every harbour: “We are not going broke in one year — we are slowly being squeezed out.”
According to Desmond, NIFA examined agricultural support models and climate adaptation policy before developing what it calls a Basic Income Stabilisation Payment and Climate Compensation model.
“We looked at agriculture supports. We looked at weather loss in farming. We looked at climate adaptation policy. And we asked why a primary food producer at sea has no income stabilisation mechanism at all,” he said.
He stressed that the proposal is “not as a subsidy, but as a stabiliser to stop collapse.”
Economics No Longer Add Up
Desmond told the Committee that the economics of inshore fishing “no longer add up.”
“A skipper can invest €200,000–€400,000 in a small boat and gear, work full-time, land high-quality food — and still earn less than minimum wage in a bad year,” he said.
He warned that crews are leaving the sector not because they want to, but because income has become too unpredictable to sustain family life.
“We are now regularly losing up to 80–100 fishing days per year to climate-driven conditions,” Desmond said.
At the same time, bait prices are becoming unsustainable, small boats cannot diversify due to closed fisheries, young people cannot secure loans because income is unpredictable, and older fishermen are exiting early with no replacement generation.
“This is no longer a profitability issue — it is now a continuity issue. Once an inshore fleet disappears, it cannot be rebuilt,” he warned.
Impact on Coastal Communities
Desmond argued that the consequences extend beyond the boats themselves.
“This sector is not just about fishermen,” he said, noting that every fishing job supports multiple onshore jobs in transport, processing, marine services and local businesses.
He cautioned that if the inshore fleet contracts significantly, coastal towns will not feel a slowdown but “a structural economic loss”, adding that unlike many industries, these jobs cannot relocate inland.
Call for State Intervention
Desmond insisted that NIFA is not seeking wealth creation but basic income stability.
“We are not asking the State to make fishermen wealthy. We are asking the State to recognise that a climate-exposed primary food sector cannot operate with zero income stability while every comparable sector has support mechanisms,” he said.
He described the proposal as “a stabilisation framework designed to keep fishermen fishing, keep coastal communities functioning, and keep domestic food production alive.”
Without intervention, he warned, “the decline of the inshore fleet will not be sudden, but it will be permanent.”
