RTE - Trawler crews laid off in Wexford fishing dispute

http://www.rte.ie/news/2013/1118/487300 ... shery-row/

i wonder was it bass "by catch"

A dispute in Co Wexford has led to the crews of 15 large trawlers and fishing boats being laid off, with up to 100 people affected.
The owners of the boats say the fault lies with the Government.
A meeting is due to take place later today in an attempt to sort through the issues.
The O'Flaherty brothers in Kilmore Quay operate one of the largest fleets of fishing boats on the south coast.
Last year Seamus O'Flaherty gave away free fish on the quayside in an effort to highlight the regulation that fishermen are not allowed to bring ashore certain species of fish, especially if the boat's quota of catching such species has been reached.
In the past fortnight, skippers on two of the 15 O'Flaherty boats were questioned about allegedly breaking regulations.
On Friday, all four O’Flaherty brothers received registered letters from the Sea Fisheries Protection Office ordering all 15 boats to cease fishing immediately.
Some of the boats have six crew members, all of whom have now been temporarily laid off.
Fishery protection officers are due to meet with the O'Flahertys today in Cork.
The Department of Agriculture and the Marine has refused to comment on why all 15 boats have been ordered to cease fishing.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2013/1118/487300 ... shery-row/

Is that the same skipper who was doing the beal bocht act on the Joe Duffy Show a while back?

https://twitter.com/Bankofisland/status ... 64/photo/1

Very interesting read! 15 trawlers, probably all fishing herring at the moment, if they're held in for a week over a hundred tonnes of herring wouldn't be caught!

I think they're all Beamers/Scallopers

Oh i see, still though there'sa massive by-catch with that!

No by-catch when Herring fishing in the SE coast.

No by-catch when Herring fishing in the SE coast.

When i said by-catch i was refering to the statement previously made regarding beam trawling, sorry for the confusion

Educate yourselves before making assumptions and begruden people who are trying to make a living for their families.

Educate yourselves before making assumptions and begruden people who are trying to make a living for their families.

I'm finding it difficult to establish the facts....
But it appears to me that some boats down that way want to be a "law unto themselves"....

The law that has been put in place is boats must dump back into the sea already dead fish because they have no quota for them while foreign boats fish along side in Irish waters and take what they want. How is this right ? If the irish goverment looked after their own people and secured our own waters for our own fisherman their would be fish there for everyone anglers included.

The law that has been put in place is boats must dump back into the sea already dead fish because they have no quota for them while foreign boats fish along side in Irish wproverbial muscles and take what they want. How is this right ? If the irish goverment looked after their own people and secured our own waters for our own fisherman their would be fish there for everyone anglers included.

That won't be the case though, like it or lump it Ireland signed away it's fishing rights when what may have seemed then like a good idea at the time it joined the EC, unfortunately hindsight shows us what has happened with the proverbial muscles bein flexed by Spain, France, the Netherlands...

The law that has been put in place is boats must dump back into the sea already dead fish because they have no quota for them while foreign boats fish along side in Irish waters and take what they want. How is this right ? If the irish goverment looked after their own people and secured our own waters for our own fisherman their would be fish there for everyone anglers included.

Again, I do not fully know the facts but.... Firstly, the law is the law, the quota is the quota. It might not be the best law but it is the law nonetheless and we cannot only take "what suits" when it comes to the law. The alternative is a free for all. Businesses all round are finding things hard but they must still operate within the law. Fishermen cannot be any different. It has been said before, our fishermen were sold out for the sake of our farmers... Our fishermen must now deal with the hand they are dealt with, not break the law.
Are boats using more selective gear to reduce bycatch? I do not know.
A while back in Irish Angler (now out of business due to the recession) I wrote about commercial fishing practice..."if people could see the damage being inflicted by beam trawlers etc. then beam trawling would be banned. It would be like the farmer killing the birds, rabbits, mice, grass, bushes and shrubs...all to get a few bullocks out of the field and then leaving the field barren for years after- if this was the case, farming would be banned."

Commercial fishermen have never crowned themselves in glory - the mentality seems to be - fish until it's gone...and get the last one before the other fella does. Our fishermen are as likely to wipe out fish in our waters as the Spanish etc.

As Ed Fahy - author of the brilliant book "Overkill" - said in a radio debate on this issue earlier this year: Once you allow by-catches to be landed and sold, the by-catch species - in that instance, bass - becomes a prime target species. The real problem is not the legislative controls on Irish commercial boats, its the lack of them on those of other EU fishing states. Letting Irish boats join the free-for-all is not the answer, galling as the situation must be for those involved.

'Commercial fishermen have never crowned themselves in glory - the mentality seems to be - fish until it's gone...and get the last one before the other fella does. Our fishermen are as likely to wipe out fish in our waters as the Spanish etc'

There's possibly a few anglers with the same mentality that don't take on the idea of sustainability on what they are doing. There's none as blind as those who dont want to see.

There's possibly a few anglers with the same mentality that don't take on the idea of sustainability on what they are doing. There's none as blind as those who dont want to see.

Indeed there may well be Hurler01. I would have no problem in reporting any angler that breaks the law however other than bass there is no quota that applies to anglers. But lets keep this on topic: The current carry on down in Kilmore Quay.

I worked on beam trawlers for a few years back in the 90's mainly in the North Sea and I must say that ground that had to of been towed over by beam trawlers thousands of times, still produced good catches of flat fish. We targetted Plaice in Summer and Black Sole in winter and TBH there was very little bycatch apart from the odd Turbot, Cod and Wolf fish. There were very very few undersized fish retained in the 120mm mesh cod ends. Beam trawling has a bad rep even among other commercial fishermen which I think is unjustified. In my opinon twin rig prawn trawling does more damage.

Over totally clean featureless ground, there could be something in what you say. I'd agree about the prawn rigs, and worst of the lot is scallop dredging, which i have to confess I was at myself in the far off days before net head cameras revealed the full carnage. Everything on the seabed, stones and all, used to come up on deck.