Is there any other national industry in Ireland which faces this level of regulation every day?
Bureaucracy is defined, rather appropriately, in the Oxford Dictionary as “a system of government in which most of the important decisions are taken by State officials rather than by elected representatives.”
Another definition, also quite apt, is that “excessively complicated administrative procedures, create a complexity of unnecessary regulatory mindsets which afflict State servants and contribute to constituting the hierarchical structure where policies, laws and regulations are implemented through State officials gathered in clusters of officials called Departments where progress is blocked by following a fixed routine or procedure that often results in delay rather than progress.”
Quite a mouthful – effectively meaning that Government Departments, State executive agencies, regulatory agencies, Government bodies of all kinds, structured hierarchically, created for specific functions, get caught up in complex procedures and rules in completing tasks. Occasionally Government and State agencies may seem to be doing the same thing, under different headings, e.g., the several Departments of the Irish Government impinging on varying maritime aspects – transport, food, ports, maritime safety, etc., etc., so conflicting and slowing action to deal with issues. However, civil servants, notably those in higher level positions – and some politicians – have been known to describe bureaucracy as an important pillar in governance!
The EU has frequently been portrayed as being dominated by “giant bureaucracy” and EU governance is through “unelected bureaucrats”. The EU view is that this is contradictory to its “polycentric character.” However, the belief that the EU has a “giant administrative apparatus” and opposition to this are widespread.
Europêche, the representative body for fishermen in the European Union, claiming to speak for around 45,000 vessels, both artisanal and largescale, 80,000 fishermen and 16-member organisations from 10 European countries, has taken aim at the “administrative burden and thousands of rules fishers have to comply with on a daily basis.”
Meeting last month, for the first time, with the new Commissioner for Fisheries and Oceans, Costas Kadis, the organisation noted that the newly-elected Commission, in dealing with agriculture, had indicated it would reduce bureaucracy affecting farmers.
But what about the fishing industry?
No formal commitment to do the same for this industry. So Europeche has called for a change in direction and told the Commissioner that it wants to see a reduction in “the administrative burden and simplifying of the thousands of rules fishers have to comply with.”
“Green over-regulation” has been criticised by the President of Europeche, Javier Garat. He is also President of the Spanish Fisheries Confederation which is disputing the EU’s Multiannual Plan for Fisheries in the Western Mediterranean describing it as “pursuit of environmentalism,” because it seeks to reduce by over 70 per cent the number of days allowed for trawling. The SPC has claimed that this is an example of bureaucracy based on “obsolete data.”
In Ireland the rapidity of new regulations announced by the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority and Marine and Transport Departments “is enough to confuse anybody and keep fishermen reading regulations and trying to cope with them rather than get time to go fishing,” according to industry sources. “Instead of catching fish a Skipper has to look up data, electronic log books and files of regulations by those who have no knowledge or experience of what fishing is like. The skills of fishing are being destroyed by bureaucracy.”
Brussels officials, the SFPA at its Clonakilty Headquarters and the Marine sections of the Department of Agriculture and Food and the Department of Transport have defended the necessity for and importance of regulations.
“Deeply harming the fishing sector through bureaucracy,” is the common industry retort from operational fishermen. “No support, just more and more regulations.”
All sizes of fishing boats and fishermen at all levels in the industry are being affected by the level of what has become over-regulation, with more being added weekly. It appears that the State bureaucracy, the civil service and the various regulatory agencies find increasing ways to limit and restrict, rather than encourage development and expansion, say fishermen.
Environmental problems, climate change, economic challenges from market fluctuations and limited fishing access due to low quotas are well understood by Irish fishermen. Rules to combat unsustainable fishing practices have been welcomed by fishing industry representative organisations.However, the increasing extent of regulations is a problem.
Highlighting in December the application of rules and regulations in Ireland, the Chief Executive of the Irish Fish Processors and Exporters Association, Brendan Byrne, contrasted what happens in Ireland and in other countries: “When we go to the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority, they say they are compelled, they are forced, to bring in these regimes, be it whatever. They are forced and compelled, they tell us, to do it because of Europe. But if you walk any other pier or harbour, anywhere across Europe, there are no such rules as compared to what are being applied.”
That seems like a classic example of bureaucracy.
- This article is published in the March edition of the MARINE TIMES, Ireland’s leading marine newspaper, the voice of the coastal communities.
