Debate contribution: Fishing Industry: Capital Investment

Debate contribution by Ms Sorcha Eastwood on 27 February 2024.

MLA

Ms Sorcha Eastwood

Party at the time

Alliance Party

Date

27 February 2024

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Fishing Industry: Capital Investment

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4237563

Read the official Assembly record

Text

That is a good one, Jim. I support the motion and thank those who tabled it. It is about much more than the fishing industry. It is about showcasing the best of Northern Ireland. We have heard from various Members about the spin-off benefits for skills and tourism. We need to encourage and enable a truly sustainable industry going forward: sustainable in every sense of the word. The industry needs to be sustainable in protecting fish stocks, as my colleagues have mentioned. It needs to adapt to climate change, achieving our net zero targets, and it needs to offer a fair living wage to those who work in it, ensuring that future generations enter the vocation and way of life. I will focus particularly on the sustainable fishing economy and skills. From the outset, however, let me say that without decisive action to protect against the worst of climate change and to adapt to the impact that we are already witnessing, the fishing industry is facing dire consequences. Much like the Northern Ireland economy, the fishing industry is made up of microenterprises and SMEs, but they are central to our coastal communities. Indeed, they are the beating heart of those communities, as many other Members have mentioned. In 2021, the FSDP report noted that nearly 400 companies contribute to the fishing, seafood and fishing-port sectors here. Therefore, although we often look purely at the economic output and productivity, we need to acknowledge that those industries are a key part of our communities. I commend the Minister for meeting the Northern Ireland Fishery Harbour Authority, and I know that the Department has a range of actions in the pipeline to support the fishing industry. As with other major policy areas, however, there is huge scope for cross-departmental working, as other Members have mentioned. For example, the Department for the Economy has responsibility, with delivery partners including DFI, for the energy strategy. Enabling businesses, including those in processing, to invest in renewables is crucial, and that relies on things such as upgrading the grid and business support schemes. DFE, as Ms Ennis mentioned, has responsibility for skills development. I urge the Economy Minister to work in collaboration with the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs to give young people the opportunity to have numerous routes into the fishing industry. I agree with Ms Ennis about apprenticeships: she knows that I am very passionate about that. When those apprenticeships come along, they can lead to a job for life for many people, providing stability and a wage. It also provides them with a crucial link to their community where they can be part of their heritage and feel that they are playing a key role. We also need to enable people currently with jobs in the fishing industry to have the opportunity to upskill, diversify and specialise. My colleague, Kellie Armstrong, has already mentioned the cross-seeding of various transferable skills that exist. A consultation for a five-year proposal on financial support for the fishing industry was carried out in late 2022, and it has wide-ranging proposals, including around training, which would be hugely beneficial were it to be delivered. However, that will require adequate funding. While we speak about the need to support people into the industry, as many Members have mentioned, migration also plays a crucial role for our fishing industry, as it does for health and social care and many other areas of our society. However, the current Conservative Government are pursuing an extreme ideological policy that, clearly, does not have the best interests of Northern Ireland or the wider UK at heart. The increase of the minimum salary, as Ms Forsythe pointed out, is unworkable in Northern Ireland, as is the shameful proposal not to allow care workers to bring their families here. Although it is a reserved matter, we urgently need to have more say on migration policy in order to ensure that it adequately reflects the needs of our society and economy and to further protect workers who come to work here. I know that the Minister is writing to the Home Office in that regard.

The fishing industry deserves wide-ranging support, and I am heartened to hear the various contributions from across the House on that. One of the things that we can be really proud of in Northern Ireland is that food heritage, and the provenance of our seafood is peerless; indeed, we often say about Northern Ireland, "Our Food. Power of Good". I stand here ready, with every Member, especially the Minister, to play my part in helping the fishing industry.

767 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 09:38 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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