“The finest cod bank on the Irish coast lies about two to three leagues to the northward of Boffin, nearly midway between that and Achill Head.”
The “great harvest” on the bank couldn’t be exploited by the Inishbofin islanders due to the small size of their boats, according to a report from 1873 by the then Inspector of Irish Fisheries, Thomas F. Brady,
Much has changed over the past almost 150 years. Not only is cod in crisis, but decades of overfishing combined with years of under-regulation have left many other species under threat.
“The oceans if managed sustainably and protected sufficiently are one of our most powerful allies in the fight against climate change,” according to Virginijus Sinkevičius, the European Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries.
In order to do this, Sinkevičius said, in a recent online conference, that managing fisheries is key.
“An effective control system is the precondition for an effective fisheries policy… the best policy remains toothless if not properly implemented and enforced.”
That is where Ireland has fallen down in recent years, according to European Commission who found “severe and significant weaknesses” in the Irish control system.
Over the past number of months, Noteworthy has investigated Ireland’s enforcement of fisheries policy and controls. We submitted freedom of information (FOI) to multiple Government departments as well as State bodies and talked to numerous experts in both the fishing and environmental sectors. We can now reveal:
— Land and sea inspections of fishing vessels dropped by 30% in 2020, with a drop of over 60% sea boardings by the Naval Service due to Covid-19 redeployment.
— No vessels from Ireland, Scotland or the continent were willing to participate in a trial of CCTV by an Irish authority.
— The landing obligation – or discard ban – is not working for fishers, environmental groups or scientists.
— Ireland stated it had put no landing obligation specific tools in a report to the European Commission.
— A number of issues identified in a recent Commission audit had already been flagged in a 2007 report commissioned by the Government.
— A 2014 report by a Sea Fisheries Protection Officer suspected that a vessel “intentionally and illegally discharged a large quantity” of herring in Killybegs harbour.
Yesterday, we revealed the impact that fishing is having on wildlife. Tomorrow, part three examines the lack of transparency in much of the decision-making in the fishing sector.
TheJournal.ie