The social, economic and, above all else, cultural role that traditional fishing has played for the Irish offshore islands cannot be underestimated, according to Arranmore native Jerry Early.
The small-scale fisher fondly remembers “doing something around boats” from when he could first walk. But he has a great fear now that the islands “are losing all the traditions” as more and more island fishers are forced out of this way of life.
As chair of the Irish Islands Marine Resource Organisation (IIMRO) that is at the coalface of the struggle to give island fishers a foothold, Early is trying to help the community as it navigates a sea change in the industry towards larger, industrial fleets.
As part of our ISLAND NATION investigation about depopulation concerns on our islands, Early and his colleagues at IIMRO told us that they are coming up against a wall from authorities as they push for practical solutions to save their traditional way of life.
“I have a huge problem with how it’s been relegated to almost a pastime and it’s a huge sense of frustration for us,” Early stressed. “We can’t allow that to be whittled down.”
Island fishers operate mainly from family-owned, small-scale vessels crewed by one to three islanders. The importance of this traditional model to our islands is borne out in the data, with island-registered vessels making up 5.5% of the entire national fleet.
“It goes to show how dependent they are on fishing,” said Séamus Bonner, another Arranmore native and secretary of IIMRO. “On a lot of the islands it really would have been a big proportion of annual income,” he said, and today also plays a role in attracting tourism.
“The reason why people want to visit the islands is to see activity in the harbour and eat fresh seafood that’s been caught locally,” he said.
Fishing on the islands still “has huge potential”, Bonner said, but only if it is supported and managed by authorities, something that he feels just isn’t happening right now.