Tag Archives: Ireland
Fishing industry calls for ‘tie-up’ scheme during Coronavirus crisis
Irish fishing industry representatives have called on the Government to provide a temporary fishing cessation tie-up scheme for vessels to support the industry through the turmoil created in the markets by Covid-19. 64% of Irish seafood exports are reliant on European markets. With restaurants and businesses closed throughout Ireland’s main fish export markets in Spain, France and Italy prices have tumbled for Irish fishermen. Fishermen on the west coast would usually expect up to €20 a kilo for lobster at this time of year. Now, however, they are being offered from €6 to €10 a kilo as there is no market for the produce. >click to read< 19:05
Ireland: Dingle fishermen hold early morning protest to block Spanish trawler landing amid coronavirus fear
The local community mounted a blockade by sitting or lying on the ground at the pier, preventing an agent from driving across the pier in a truck which would have loaded the fish caught on the trawler. The fishermen had announced their intentions to block the arrival, and Gardaí were present when the Spanish-owned trawler arrived at the pier at approximately 4.30am this morning, Monday 20 April. Gardaí attempted to negotiate with the protesters in order to let the truck through, but were unsuccessful, and the trawler departed from Dingle Harbour at 5.30am without having transferred the caught fish to the truck. >click to read< 08:25
Fishing industry slump demonstrates vulnerability of food security in Coronavirus crisis
Measures are needed to avoid a worldwide Covid-19 slump in agriculture and food production, such as already exists in the fishing industry. Fishing fleets and fish farmers were among the hardest hit by COVID-19, and not just in Ireland. Businesses in the United States and elsewhere supplying high-value food products like lobster and other crustaceans to restaurants in China have also been crippled by the pandemic.,, Demand for seafood slumped dramatically. Many Irish trawlers are now tied up at the piers, with their crews having handed out free fish,,, >click to read< 14:59
Protestors Protest against fishermen over calls for grey seal cull off Kerry
Animal welfare campaigners have staged a protest in An Daingean (Dingle) to protest against calls by fishermen for a cull of grey seals. The protesters say a cull on the grey seal colony around Na Blascaodaí (The Blasket Islands) would be “unnecessary and barbaric.” The inshore fishermen claim an “out of control” seal population is putting livelihoods at risk and are calling for a “seal management plan” to be put in place immediately. >click to read< 10:27
A Funeral of fisherman who died off Wexford coast takes place
Fisherman Willie Whelan, who was missing for almost three weeks after his trawler sank early this month, has been buried in Co Wexford. Funeral mass for the 41-year-old took place this afternoon in Poulfur, not far from his native Saltmills. A large crowd braved the wet, cold weather to pack into the church and outside for the ceremony, which took place three days after the popular fisherman’s body was recovered from the sea. >click to read< 15:46
‘Family man’ fatally struck by car in United States, was dedicated to helping hundreds of fishermen around the island
Michael (Mike) Craine died six days after his 68th birthday while on holiday with his wife Lynn in Williamsburg, Virginia. Both he and his wife were crossing the road when he was hit on Tuesday last week (October 8). Mrs. Craine, ’Since he’s been retired we’ve been travelling together and have been all around the world, including Australia, New Zealand and Newfoundland.’,,, Over the years he had written articles for and supplied photos to Commercial Fishing Magazine, Fishing News and until his death he was a monthly contributor to magazine The Skipper – based in Ireland – where he reported on fishing activity around the island. >click to read< 23:16
Fishermen in plan to stage protest at Greystones Harbour
Protesting fishermen will bring their boats to the harbour in Greystones on Saturday afternoon to unload their catch, in deliberate breach of by laws. They are objecting to what they say is Wicklow County Council’s refusal to allow commercial fishermen to use their home port of Greystones to carry on their business. When work on the new harbour began in 2008, the local fishing boats were deprived of access to their moorings but promised that berths would again be provided to them once the new harbour opened. >click to read<20:11
Skipper celebrating clean bill of health with trawler Robyn
Castletownbere fisherman Daniel Healy is not only celebrating the launch of his new trawler, but also the 11th anniversary of his kidney transplant. Skipper and owner Daniel purchased the 20m Robyn RJ late last year, and, following some modifications, is now fishing with his crew of four, landing their catch into Castletownbere where he lives with his wife Maureen and their three children. >click to read< 21:22 
Irish Fishermen fear UK limits will push EU boats into Irish waters
The UK’s withdrawal from the London Fisheries Convention will push more EU trawlers into Irish waters and is a major concern for the Irish fleet, according to fishermen. Skippers of fishing vessels in Howth, Co Dublin, expressed concern on Tuesday about the decision to expel foreign ships from a 12 nautical mile (22km) limit around UK shores in two years’ time. Most were primarily occupied by what the decision may portend, with the possibility of a 200 nautical mile (370km) exclusion zone covering all British waters a concern for the Irish fleet, according to Howth-based skipper Richard Branagan. click here for video, read the story 16:51
U.K. to End Half Century of Fishing Rights in Brexit Slap to EU
Prime Minister Theresa May will pull Britain out of the 1964 London convention that allows European fishing vessels to access waters as close as six to twelve nautical miles from the U.K. coastline. Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union was already going to stop fishing by European boats within 12 to 200 nautical miles (22 to 370 kilometers) of British shores, but this move goes even further in terminating historic rights enjoyed by France, Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands that predate the U.K.’s own entry into the EU. “For the first time in more than fifty years we will be able to decide who can access our waters,”,,, click here to read the story 19:34
Ireland in danger of losing 30 more fishing vessels with the loss of an estimated 360 jobs say South West fishermen
There have been a lot of the same repeated statements about the rights of 23 RSW Pelagic vessels who have 40% of the €275,317,000 total earnings of Irelands fishing fleet, an estimated 100 million Euro in 2016 increasing to 110 million in 2017. Reports across various media have communicated a message that a Mackerel war has started between North and South. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is amazing to me personally how people’s perception can override the facts but the human brain is an extraordinary muscle. To give a little background on recent events, the Irish South & West Fish Producers Organisation and our colleagues in the fishing Industry were informed by Senior officials in the Department of Marine in early 2016 that our tiny fishing fleet is still too big for our nations meagre fish allocations from the European Union in predominantly our waters that produce some 30% of all fish landed in Europe. We were told that cuts were required to be made to the Whitefish fleet of 30 boats measuring between 12 – 23 Meters. Click here to read the story 09:28
The Luck of the Irish! – Fisherman catches rare one-in-100 million albino lobster off the west of Ireland coast
A ONE-in-100 million white albino lobster has been donated to an Irish aquarium after it was saved from the chef’s cooking pot by a fisherman in Ireland. Local fisherman Charlie O’Malley caught the rare crustacean in his nets off the coast of Achill Island in Co. Mayo. The chance of catching a ‘ghost’ lobster like the one found in Achill is approximately one-in-100million. For comparison, the odds of winning the Lotto jackpot in Britain is around one-in-14million. (its certainly the prettiest lobster I’ve seen!) Click here to read the story. 09:32
Ireland should follow Britain out of the EU
County Donegal skippers like Michael Callaghan have long learned to contend with rasping North Atlantic gales and 30-foot waves — but nothing prepared them for the political shock of Brexit, and the threat it would pose to their livelihoods. Trapped in port by an approaching storm, the 44-year-old trawlerman has time to lament what he sees as bleak prospects for the Irish fishing industry. His latest haul of Atlantic horse mackerel was caught to the north, in Scottish waters, and his survival depends on continued access to those lucrative British fishing grounds. As he unloads a silver stream of fish into a chute from his 51-meter trawler, the Pacelli, he explains he has little hope of Irish politicians coming to his rescue, as Brexit raises existential questions about where he can catch and sell his fish. “Fisheries isn’t of huge economic value to Ireland Inc., so there’s no appetite in Dublin to look after coastal communities, especially fishermen,” he says, as he offers a tour of the boat. “We’d have to leave the EU to wrangle any of our power back.” Continue reading the story here 13:49
‘Atlantic’ follows the fortunes of three small fishing communities – in Ireland, Norway and Newfoundland
Narrated by Emmy award winner Brendan Gleeson, ‘Atlantic’ follows the fortunes of three small fishing communities – in Ireland, Norway and Newfoundland as they struggle to maintain their way of life in the face of mounting economic and ecological challenges. As the oil majors drive deeper into their fragile seas, and the world’s largest fishing companies push fish stocks to the brink, coastal communities and the resources they rely on are fast approaching a point of no return. This has huge implications for Irish fishing communities and the national exchequer and is even more relevant with news of Brexit and the UK leaving the Common Fisheries Area and with Providence Resources planning a large Irish drilling program in 2017. Filmed in some of the most remote and breathtaking locations in the North Atlantic, and at close quarters with some of the sea’s most captivating characters, Atlantic brings to the fore three very intimate stories from the global resource debate. It explores how modern day communities must learn from the past, in order to secure a brighter future. Watch the trailer, read the rest here 15:29
