BBC Channel 4 news reporter Julian Rush has just revealed the outcome of this struggle between the owner of the huge (14,055 ton) fishing trawler Atlantic Dawn, and those who want Ireland to conform honestly and exactly to the EU Common Fisheries Policy. The EU recognizes that waters in which its members fish are increasingly depleted, that more scientific investigation needs to be done in them, and that sustainability of the entire resource base is in doubt. Last year, according to BBC writer Rush, Ireland "danced around" EU fisheries regulations by registering the newly built Atlantic Dawn as a merchant marine vessel with a fishing permit, in order to keep within the tonnage limit of Irish fishing vessels granted such permits by the EU. The move also kept Ireland from having to scrap 60% of her fishing fleet as the Atlantic Dawn went into action off Mauritania, with which Kevin McHugh, the boat's owner, had a private fishing arrangement. EU nations objected to this dance, and threatened Ireland, which subsequently solved the dilemma by registering the Atlantic Dawn as an Irish fishing vessel, and then by having another such Irish vessel change its registry, to a flag of convenience - that convenient nation being Panama. Thus, according to the Irish government, all is legal, all is well, because Ireland has not broken the EU Common Fisheries Policy.

The Atlantic Dawn is reported to be capable of taking in 400 tons of fish per day, and storing them in a hold that has a 7,000 ton capacity. No wonder the world is watching how the EU manages its fishing capacity, and the various machinations that are geared up to lobby for even more fisheries gluttony. The area to watch now is a change to flag of convenience for many EU vessels. This is something that has to change because it threatens all world food security measures. Ireland's sneaky precedent must not be allowed to be mimicked elsewhere.

When the EU Common Fisheries Policy is instituted in 2003, some 28,000 jobs in the catch sector will be abolished, and some hundreds of fishing vessels will be scrapped. It has been suggested elsewhere that perhaps some of those jobs could be shifted over into the processing and distribution sectors, but meantime, six EU nations are reportedly trying to "water down" the Common Fisheries Policy in order to keep their own citizens working in their traditional jobs, thus ensuring domestic satisfaction with the political order. These six nations, (Ireland among them) are lobbying hard as "The friends of fishing", to keep the status quo for fishermen even while stocks continue to diminish under the pressure.