Irish conservationists and inshore fishermen want the country’s government to reinstate a ban on large trawlers entering its near-shore waters.
A ban prohibiting vessels larger than 18 meters in length from operating within the country’s six-nautical-mile inshore zone, introduced in 2019, was struck down recently by a ruling by Ireland’s High Court in Dublin, in response to an application for a judicial review taken by fishing vessel operators Tom Kennedy and Neil Minihane. Prior to the ban, Irish trawler operators fished for herring and sprat within the six-mile limit.
Inshore fishermen, who account for 80 percent of Ireland’s fleet and over 50 percent of fishery employment, fear for the sustainability of their sector if larger vessels are allowed into the country’s inshore waters, according to the National Inshore Fishermen’s Association Chairman Alex Crowley told SeafoodSource.
“When the decision to introduce the policy directive was made in 2018, we described it as undoubtedly the most significant policy decision made in the history of the state in terms of supporting Ireland’s inshore fishing sector. From a social, economic, environmental, and moral perspective, this was the right decision,” Crowley told SeafoodSource.
According to conservation groups Birdwatch Ireland and Our Fish, larger trawlers endanger Ireland’s coastal biodiversity and communities. The NGOs worry that large vessels will empty out stocks and damage spawning areas. According to Ireland’s state-funded Marine Institute, overfishing stocks such as herring and sprat – the key targets of larger vessels, which provide food for fish, seabirds, and mammals, can have serious consequences for marine biodiversity and ecosystem functioning.
“We trust that Minister McConalogue will take decisive action to prioritize sustainable fisheries management in Ireland's inshore waters on behalf of the vast majority of Irish fishers and coastal communities, instead of the demands of a few interested parties,” Birdwatch Ireland Policy Officer Fintan Kelly said.
Ireland’s government, which includes the Green Party, must prove its credentials by reintroducing the ban, Our Fish Program Director Rebecca Hubbard told SeafoodSource.
“It’s devastating that one of Ireland’s few laws that actively supported hundreds of low-impact fishers and their coastal communities, and could deliver massive environmental benefits, has been overturned on a technicality in favor of some of the most destructive fishers in the industry,” Hubbard said.
Photo courtesy of Pascale Gueret/Shutterstock
