Castletownbere and the Beara Peninsula face economic annihilation if the government proceeds with its plans to decommission over one third of the national fishing fleet.
That's according to the CEO of the Irish South & West Fish Producers Organisation, Patrick Murphy.
The Department of the Marine and Bord Iascaigh Mhara 'Brexit Voluntary Permanent Cessation Scheme' is better know to fishermen as the 'decommissioning' scheme.
Following Brexit, Ireland lost a large proportion of its fish quotas.
'Decommissioning' is a 60-million-euro scheme, which the government says will voluntarily reduce the size of the Irish fishing fleet and, as a consequence, improve the chances of financial viability for the remaining fishermen - because the national fish quotas will have to be split between fewer people.
Speaking to RedFM News, Patrick Murphy says the Decommissioning scheme will decimate rural coastal economies and communities like on the Beara Peninsula:
"Every third one of those boats are going to be taken away, into a boat yard, and they'll be cut up for steel, yet each one of them could go to any corner of the globe to go fishing. They're that modern and that good. And we talk about recycling or reusing boats. They won't even allow us to repurpose the boats, they have to be cut up. This is an annihilation of the fishing industry and heritage all around the coastline, and where there was once a thriving fishing industry, they're no longer there. And after this decommissioning scheme, that will happen and more and more ports around the country".
