Sprat devastation
Sat Feb 08, 2014 11:46 am
From the Irish Examiner -
COLIN BARNES, originally from Sussex, has been fishing in Irish waters for over 30 years.
For as long as I’ve known him — since 1987 — he has been dedicated to marine conservation, his knowledge gained not only from literature but, more importantly, from local observation.
When Mr Barnes sounds the alarm on a potential marine disaster, I take him seriously. I hope Minister of the Marine Simon Coveney does likewise. He only has to look at the man’s record and reputation to realise that his is a voice that must be listened to.
I have mentioned Colin Barnes many times in these columns. Fourteen years ago, he abandoned fishing for marine eco-tourism. Since then, his whale watching excursions out of Reen Pier in west Cork have become legendary. He unerringly finds the whales, dolphins, seals and, sometimes, even turtles. His commentary on these, plus the sea birds and animals, the behaviour of the ocean and the effect of winds and tides has given hundreds of visitors insights to the marine environment they could not have gained from books.
Television companies filming programmes about the natural history of Ireland’s coastline have regularly exploited his knowledge; indeed, I made a programme with him myself. The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group regularly uses his services. Every time I spend an hour aboard his boat, I come back better informed about the marine environment. Other fishermen no doubt have equal knowledge, but Mr Barnes’ business has been about raising awareness of the environmental and economic value of our local seas.
Recently, he sent an open letter to the media and Mr Coveney, alerting him to the over fishing of sprat in west Cork waters and the devastating consequences it was having on local fish stocks.
This letter was occasioned by the fact that his January 2013 letter to Mr Coveney, noting that evidence in west Cork waters indicating the imminent collapse of those stocks, received only a cursory acknowledgement. No questions were asked by the department and no action taken.
Yet, sprat are a vital food source for all our commercial fish. In particular, all members of the cod family feed on sprat. A hugely important ‘processing fish’ in the food chain, they convert plankton into rich, oily proteins. Not only do they ‘grow’ commercial fish but are essential food for the survival of seabirds and marine mammals, including the mighty fin and humpback whales that annually come to feed in our waters.
The fact that sprat ‘aggregate’ (i.e. congregate) inshore to spawn makes them especially vulnerable. They are not victims of foreign vessels; a local species, they do not roam far beyond the coast. If stocks are wiped out, we have only our own boats, which our fishery authorities can control, to blame.
Historically, sprats were not exploited in Irish waters. Now, both the UK and EU have sprat quotas but Ireland has no such arrangement. Persistent mid-water trawling with sophisticated echo sounders have led to the wholesale extraction of shoals, even in difficult areas where previously they survived to spawn. Every shoal that gathers is methodically swept up before any spawning takes place. Already, says Mr Barnes, only scraps remain of this season’s aggregations.
The present unlicensed plunder is surely an example of short-sighted fishery management on a grand scale. Allowing just a handful of trawlers to extract this vital biomass from the commonwealth of our seas makes neither economic nor ecological sense. For our Minister of the Marine to allow this situation to continue suggests official irresponsibility.
It is a curious fact that some of the largest and most powerful of trawlers are landing sprat, the smallest fish that can be legally taken from Irish waters. Hardly any sprat are returned to Ireland, but are sold at a meagre €100 euro per ton on eastern European markets.
Similar fishing pressure was previously directed at the herring stocks in the Celtic Sea. Fished with gill nets, herring had been exploited sustainably for centuries. Then came mid-water trawling. In two decades, the shoals had been fished to near-extinction. The same protection must be provided for sprat. If there is no sprat, Mr Coveney’s herring conservation will be pointless; herring like everything else will starve.
* Pádraig Whooley of the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) is delivering a talk at Kinsale Yacht Club on Friday, February 28 at 8pm
© Irish Examiner Ltd. All rights reserved
COLIN BARNES, originally from Sussex, has been fishing in Irish waters for over 30 years.
For as long as I’ve known him — since 1987 — he has been dedicated to marine conservation, his knowledge gained not only from literature but, more importantly, from local observation.
When Mr Barnes sounds the alarm on a potential marine disaster, I take him seriously. I hope Minister of the Marine Simon Coveney does likewise. He only has to look at the man’s record and reputation to realise that his is a voice that must be listened to.
I have mentioned Colin Barnes many times in these columns. Fourteen years ago, he abandoned fishing for marine eco-tourism. Since then, his whale watching excursions out of Reen Pier in west Cork have become legendary. He unerringly finds the whales, dolphins, seals and, sometimes, even turtles. His commentary on these, plus the sea birds and animals, the behaviour of the ocean and the effect of winds and tides has given hundreds of visitors insights to the marine environment they could not have gained from books.
Television companies filming programmes about the natural history of Ireland’s coastline have regularly exploited his knowledge; indeed, I made a programme with him myself. The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group regularly uses his services. Every time I spend an hour aboard his boat, I come back better informed about the marine environment. Other fishermen no doubt have equal knowledge, but Mr Barnes’ business has been about raising awareness of the environmental and economic value of our local seas.
Recently, he sent an open letter to the media and Mr Coveney, alerting him to the over fishing of sprat in west Cork waters and the devastating consequences it was having on local fish stocks.
This letter was occasioned by the fact that his January 2013 letter to Mr Coveney, noting that evidence in west Cork waters indicating the imminent collapse of those stocks, received only a cursory acknowledgement. No questions were asked by the department and no action taken.
Yet, sprat are a vital food source for all our commercial fish. In particular, all members of the cod family feed on sprat. A hugely important ‘processing fish’ in the food chain, they convert plankton into rich, oily proteins. Not only do they ‘grow’ commercial fish but are essential food for the survival of seabirds and marine mammals, including the mighty fin and humpback whales that annually come to feed in our waters.
The fact that sprat ‘aggregate’ (i.e. congregate) inshore to spawn makes them especially vulnerable. They are not victims of foreign vessels; a local species, they do not roam far beyond the coast. If stocks are wiped out, we have only our own boats, which our fishery authorities can control, to blame.
Historically, sprats were not exploited in Irish waters. Now, both the UK and EU have sprat quotas but Ireland has no such arrangement. Persistent mid-water trawling with sophisticated echo sounders have led to the wholesale extraction of shoals, even in difficult areas where previously they survived to spawn. Every shoal that gathers is methodically swept up before any spawning takes place. Already, says Mr Barnes, only scraps remain of this season’s aggregations.
The present unlicensed plunder is surely an example of short-sighted fishery management on a grand scale. Allowing just a handful of trawlers to extract this vital biomass from the commonwealth of our seas makes neither economic nor ecological sense. For our Minister of the Marine to allow this situation to continue suggests official irresponsibility.
It is a curious fact that some of the largest and most powerful of trawlers are landing sprat, the smallest fish that can be legally taken from Irish waters. Hardly any sprat are returned to Ireland, but are sold at a meagre €100 euro per ton on eastern European markets.
Similar fishing pressure was previously directed at the herring stocks in the Celtic Sea. Fished with gill nets, herring had been exploited sustainably for centuries. Then came mid-water trawling. In two decades, the shoals had been fished to near-extinction. The same protection must be provided for sprat. If there is no sprat, Mr Coveney’s herring conservation will be pointless; herring like everything else will starve.
* Pádraig Whooley of the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) is delivering a talk at Kinsale Yacht Club on Friday, February 28 at 8pm
© Irish Examiner Ltd. All rights reserved
Re: Sprat devastation
Sat Feb 08, 2014 7:23 pm
Strange to here you mention the imminent collapse of sparats Jim, I got a phone call from a mate to say there was two strange boats working very close to shore only in the last couple of weeks so i went for a closer look armed with binoculars and a hh vhf to have a listen, there was two boats from west cork working in dublin bay they were there for close on a week.it turned out they were pair trawling for sprats and they were taking upto 25tons a day 
,i got a chance to talk to the crew of one before they left for home, just before the weather turned bad, i was out fishing for one for my boat species hunt needless to say i didnt catch one (over fished) 
i fished from first light and gave it 5 hours before calling it a day 
,talking to them they said it wasnt worth there while carrying on as they were down to about 3/4tons so it was time to head home, most of the catch was destined for poland, at the start they were getting 200 euro per ton but over a few days they were down to 140 per ton they must have flooded the market with them 
,i got a chance to talk to the crew of one before they left for home, just before the weather turned bad, i was out fishing for one for my boat species hunt needless to say i didnt catch one (over fished) i fished from first light and gave it 5 hours before calling it a day ,talking to them they said it wasnt worth there while carrying on as they were down to about 3/4tons so it was time to head home, most of the catch was destined for poland, at the start they were getting 200 euro per ton but over a few days they were down to 140 per ton they must have flooded the market with them
Re: Sprat devastation
Sat Feb 08, 2014 10:38 pm
JOHN1 wrote:Strange to here you mention the imminent collapse of sparats Jim, I got a phone call from a mate to say there was two strange boats working very close to shore only in the last couple of weeks so i went for a closer look armed with binoculars and a hh vhf to have a listen, there was two boats from west cork working in dublin bay they were there for close on a week.it turned out they were pair trawling for sprats and they were taking upto 25tons a day
That's gut wrenching,is anything safe from these individuals.Next they will be trawling for grains of sand if a few shillings can be made from it:roll: Talk about destroying the food chain.
Surprised? not at all.Rotten to the core!
Last edited by beachbuddy on Sun Feb 09, 2014 12:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Sprat devastation
Sun Feb 09, 2014 12:15 am
This is being highlighted time and time again by concerned employees of the SPFA.
What is going on is scary. If you try to highlight the issue you will be torpedoed by the commercial people.... "Ah shur we are only trying to make a living at a tough job....it's not us but the spannies and the French that are doing the damage..."
The pillage of aggragating mullet last year should be a warning... These people have the gear and the technology to wipe our waters out.
The carry on on my Facebook page last year should be compulsory reading for all anglers.... We don't know the half of it..... The race to the bottom is not only already on....it well over half way.
What can we do?
What is going on is scary. If you try to highlight the issue you will be torpedoed by the commercial people.... "Ah shur we are only trying to make a living at a tough job....it's not us but the spannies and the French that are doing the damage..."
The pillage of aggragating mullet last year should be a warning... These people have the gear and the technology to wipe our waters out.
The carry on on my Facebook page last year should be compulsory reading for all anglers.... We don't know the half of it..... The race to the bottom is not only already on....it well over half way.
What can we do?
Re: Sprat devastation
Sun Feb 09, 2014 9:36 am
honest answer Jim, enjoy what we have left, for the little time it will be left. Nothing is going to stop this wanton destruction of marine resourses, the law is not strong enough, if it was, there is only token enforcement to keep polititions happy.When the stocks are gone they will not be the minister then so do not give a s...t
People complain when we started allowing minis in comps, and look at the winter comps in the harbour, minis are soon to be the prime catch
Hugh Fw, managed a change in bycatch dumping, but even thats had a setback and look at the Press coverage he got, we really do not stand a chance.
I do have a little sympathy with the commercial sector, they have been sold down the river, so now its a free for all as very few care what happens, make the money now, when its gone we will clean something else.Dogfish beware there next!!! pot bait.
We have all watched fish wars, ITS THE ONLY WAY TO GO TO SAVE OUR STOCKS and fishing tourism to this country
Oh yes, looks like new rod licences will be introduced, guarentee we will be prosecuted, most likely a bigger fine than taking boxes of illegal bass!! nice easy targets
regards
screeming
People complain when we started allowing minis in comps, and look at the winter comps in the harbour, minis are soon to be the prime catch
Hugh Fw, managed a change in bycatch dumping, but even thats had a setback and look at the Press coverage he got, we really do not stand a chance.
I do have a little sympathy with the commercial sector, they have been sold down the river, so now its a free for all as very few care what happens, make the money now, when its gone we will clean something else.Dogfish beware there next!!! pot bait.
We have all watched fish wars, ITS THE ONLY WAY TO GO TO SAVE OUR STOCKS and fishing tourism to this country
Oh yes, looks like new rod licences will be introduced, guarentee we will be prosecuted, most likely a bigger fine than taking boxes of illegal bass!! nice easy targets
regards
screeming
Re: Sprat devastation
Wed Feb 12, 2014 3:56 am
What is needed is how many tons can be exploited without impinging on the sprat as a species or the dependent species. I bet those numbers are not available to our powers that be.
In a previous life, I have seen echo soundings where they were so numerous that mile upon mile have shown the bottom at 3 fathoms - where the actual bottom was 10 fathoms. A couple of years ago I was watching them being churned up by ship propellors in front of where I live , so they are still alive and kicking 30 years later. That could change suddenly if the pelagic fleet suddenly found the sprat to be a lucrative target. Currently, the sprat is an occasional target.
The sardine is a first cousin - and just Morrocco alone -harvests half a million tons a year. That does not mean that I think lightly of your concerns about sprat -and as you have outlined, their importance to dependent species. I am more concerned with the perception of the state itself which is almost non-existent on all matters which pertain to sea fisheries and are therefore in no position to act when action is required.
In a previous life, I have seen echo soundings where they were so numerous that mile upon mile have shown the bottom at 3 fathoms - where the actual bottom was 10 fathoms. A couple of years ago I was watching them being churned up by ship propellors in front of where I live , so they are still alive and kicking 30 years later. That could change suddenly if the pelagic fleet suddenly found the sprat to be a lucrative target. Currently, the sprat is an occasional target.
The sardine is a first cousin - and just Morrocco alone -harvests half a million tons a year. That does not mean that I think lightly of your concerns about sprat -and as you have outlined, their importance to dependent species. I am more concerned with the perception of the state itself which is almost non-existent on all matters which pertain to sea fisheries and are therefore in no position to act when action is required.
Re: Sprat devastation
Fri Feb 28, 2014 10:12 pm
Just by coincidence this evening, I noticed a shoal being churned up by a tugs propellors and the birds were having a feast.