Caught....but not reported....

[x]

Would I be alone in being surprised to discover that in the last few weeks about 8 Irish trawlers have been boarded and discovered with up to ?100,000 worth of illegally caught fish and arrested after being escorted to port?

I'd have thought that that would be news.....like the lorry-load of Irish fish that was confiscated in France recently - because the whole lot was undersized?


:?: :?: :?:

[Tanglerat]

Nope, not surprised.

Not surprised about 27/11 Sunday Tribune's article on Irish trawlers landing out of quota Mackeral in Scotland, either.

Looked for a link to it, but couldn't find one.

[blowin]

Hi Sandman ,
Just in the interest of clarity :
- surprised that they were doing it ?
- or that they actually got taken to task for it ?
- or that it didn't make the news ?
Feel free to tick as many boxes as you like .
All the best
N/

[x]

"Just surprised at the apparent lack of media interest. It was widely reported when the law jumped on Killybegs etc and grabbed a pile of records.

If you search RTE's news site, you'd swear there had been no reports of illegal fishing since September 2004 - or indeed anything much to do with the fishing industry in general - apart from the ?45m scheme.

But if you search around a bit you could find stuff like this below, which realy makes you wonder. Maybe there's some media blackout here as a result of ongoing criminal investigation?

http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2004/10/03/story185364727.asp

MVF Veronica II, the controversial supertrawler owned by Donegal millionaire, Kevin McHugh, has been banned from fishing in African waters. The move has placed more pressure on McHugh to secure an Australian fishing licence, despite widespread objections from lobby groups in Australia.


http://www.underwatertimes.com/forum/vi ... php?p=1276

The Irish fishing magnate Kevin McHugh appears to have given up attempts to get his super trawler Veronica into Australian waters.

The vessel, bigger than a football field and credited with killing more fish than any other boat in the world, is for sale after being refused entry into Australia last year because of concerns about its potential impact on fish stocks.


http://www.worldseafishing.com/forums/s ... hp?t=11174

David Findlay
WSF Regular Poster


Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Australia
Posts: 58

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Not sure if the pro's over your way have completely fished the waters out, but a few months back we had a big stink over here when an Irish fishing concern tried to rock up and fish our waters with the so called ""super trawlers""

About 10 times bigger than anything over here and seemingly quite capable of strip mining the waters of any thing that swum.

Unions over here refused to service/resupply/refuel this bloody monster so they packed up and left. Please don't send anymore!




http://www.boatingoz.com.au/news04/0913.htm

The Irish fishing tsar Kevin McHugh is understood to have paid $1.6 million - five times the market value - for a licence to fish in Australian waters with his controversial super trawler Veronica.

Just why Mr McHugh paid so much for a licence is a mystery. The same licence was sold for just $295,000 a few months before being advertised publicly and traded through a Melbourne broker.


The last I heard, the boat is for sale with a New Zealand broker. Here's a few highlights from some of the articles listed above...

Veronica, named after McHugh's wife, was previously based in the Canary Islands. It lost its licence to fish off the coast of Mauritania in northwest Africa last month after local communities lobbied against government deals with foreign fishing companies.

The boat is also barred from fishing in European waters.

The vessel, and its mostly Australian crew, is now docked in Cape Town, South Africa and is waiting to continue on to Australia.

Supertrawlers represent 1 per cent of the world's fishing fleet. They employ 2 per cent of the world's fishermen and are responsible for 50 per cent of fish caught in the world.

"

[b0ogaloo]

It is a bit on the large side :shock:

[img]http://www.marinetimes.ie/Assets/_archive_2004/0404_killybegs_03.jpg[/img]


Andy

[b0ogaloo]

You'd think that one ship that size would be enough, but oh no ! Mr Hughes has got another one called "Atlantic Dawn"

[img]http://www.psm-sensors.co.uk/images/atlantic_dawn%20small.jpg[/img]



Andy :(

[x]

"If you think the pictures are impressive, read the chapter on the Atlantic Dawn in Charles Clover's ""The End of the Line: How Overfishing is Changing the World and What We Eat"".

Or go have a look at the RTE Prime Time report on the Atlantic Dawn licencing/registration caper at

http://www.rte.ie/news/2003/0605/primetime.html

I guarantee that if you check both of these out you will not believe what went on.....but it did.......and still does.....

Apparently it was crucial that this boat be allowed to fish or it would have serious repercussions for the peace process and was crucial in providing jobs in deprived areas of the NW. :lol: NW where? NW Australia?"