Intensive dredging 200m from shore at Cahore

[teacher]

Over the last two days there has been intensive dredging at Cahore point. On occasions the dredgers were operating about 200m or less from the shore. At one stage there were 7 dredgers operating intensively in a confined area.

They appear to operating legally. Surely this is damaging to fish stocks in the area.

I have reportedit to the ERFB who were interested but unsure whether anything could be done.

All of the boats were operating out of Wexford. On Thursday the following boats were there: WD-318, WD-137, WD-192, WD-218, WD-190.

Can nothing be done about this?

[teacher]

I took some pictures ... for all the good it will do. (I have much better pictures than these too.)

[jd]

They look like mussel dredgers from Wexford Harbour all right. As an aside, I heard someone who works on a dredger say that the silting in Wexford harbour has increased very noticibly in the last 4 or 5 years. Maybe related?
jd

[corbyeire]

yea there were two of those about 500m out at the breakers the time i was down - all that distruption is bound to wreck the various ecosystems in the area

same craic was goin on in castlemain harbour near inch at the end of august

[teacher]

yea there were two of those about 500m out at the breakers the time i was down

I could have put a 5oz lead through the window this time. The intensity of the dredging this time is really annoying me, and doing it within 200m is taking liberties.

[Ronald]

The big blue one looks like one of the boats that work out of bangor ,i think they collect the mussels from your area and bring up to belfast lough to reseed them for a while until they grow and clean themselves out then the dredger comes back and lifts them for resale ,cant remember the name of the boat but it's registered in westport and is meant to be the biggest mussel boat in ireland .The amount of damage these guys do must be immense .

[Seaniebo]

Far as I know there is no legislation to stop these boats from dredging where they want and for as long as they want. Think theres a minimum shell length for razor clams and thats about it!

[teacher]

The big blue one looks like one of the boats that work out of bangor ,i think they collect the mussels from your area and bring up to belfast lough to reseed them for a while until they grow and clean themselves out then the dredger comes back and lifts them for resale ,cant remember the name of the boat but it's registered in westport and is meant to be the biggest mussel boat in ireland.

It's the "Deirdre" with a Wexford registration WD-212.

[teacher]

Far as I know there is no legislation to stop these boats from dredging where they want and for as long as they want. Think theres a minimum shell length for razor clams and thats about it!

That's what I've heard too. If that is the case, then it seems really ridiculous. How would I find out how/if this is regulated? When I rang the department of the marine they didn't seem to know who was responsible for it.

[corbyeire]

off the top of my head ive seen maps for shellfish from BIM minimum lengths and i think there is some sort of season - but i did see this map a year or so ago

have seen signs on quays for the return of female lobster with the notch and the clam and razor lenghts

[John D]

I know my post isn't very productive but I just want to say that those pictures that teacher posted scare the fu**en sh*t out of me.

John D

[x]

Contact details on the following page might be a place to start asking questions. Both phone and email contacts are listed.

http://www.dcmnr.gov.ie/Marine/Seafood+ ... +Notes.htm

There are application forms etc that have to be submitted before you can dredge for mussels. These have to be on file at the Dept of the Marine.

These documents may be of interest...

http://www.dcmnr.gov.ie/NR/rdonlyres/D5 ... f20061.doc
http://www.dcmnr.gov.ie/NR/rdonlyres/D5 ... of2006.doc
http://www.dcmnr.gov.ie/NR/rdonlyres/D5 ... of2006.doc
http://www.dcmnr.gov.ie/NR/rdonlyres/D5 ... ionNo3.doc

In fact, there are about 9 regulatory documents on mussel dredging here...you'll have to read them in date order to see what is actually in force now.

http://www.dcmnr.gov.ie/Marine/Sea+Fish ... gement.htm

For the Dept of the Marine to say they don't know who should be fishing where and when, is a bit of a laugh. Who issues the regulations and licences? If anyone should know, it's them.....

[teacher]

I know my post isn't very productive but I just want to say that those pictures that teacher posted scare the fu**en sh*t out of me.

Sorry John, it gets worse. I got someone with a proper camera to take some shots the following day. Regulars at Cahore may recognise the Poles on the South Beach.

I'm going to contact the department and ask them to confirm thet these vessels were entitled to operate here.

[x]

I'll have a look tonight and see what the legislation appears to indicate.

But at the end of the day, whether the activity in that picture is legally sanctioned or otherwise, it is wrong. Just because something is a law does not mean that it is right, just moral, ethical or whatever.

If anyone thinks for a minute that the sea bed these guys are ripping the hell out of will ever recover fully to the state it was before they destroyed it, they're wrong. It might, over a decade or so, settle into some sort of equilibrium - but not necessarily what it was before. In fact, most likely not.

I've said this before, and I'll say it again. Sights like the above will become increasingly common as stocks further out are removed and fuel prices increase.

If you are not seeing this sort of activity on your patch today, be sure it's in store for the near future.

[corbyeire]

:shock: that is awful, plain wrong - i would have been hitting those shaggin boats from the very rocks in the picture the last day

:evil: :evil: :evil:

[teacher]

Looking at the legislation, and using Google Maps, it seems they were within the law, as long as they had filled out proper application forms, etc.

I've contacted the relevant person at the DCMNR to ask for clarification.

[x]

I'd be keen to see who would have signed off on a pile of boats dredging the hell out of the shore (if they have all the relevant documents submitted), legal or not. Not exactly a prudent use of marine resources, to tow the backside out of the sea bed within a few meters of shore, the same few meters that are all that are open to shore anglers. Maybe some bureaucrat doesn't realise what this does to the marine environment......and anyone else trying to use it.

[corbyeire]

maybe there is something in it as regards public safety in regards to bathing - particularly the picture with the posts which is right on top of a beautiful beach???

[alby]

Absoloutely disgraceful Jonathon,

Surely a danger to bathers in the area and pretty much the end of any fishing around Cahore Point, a terrible shame as it was a good bass mark.

I watched a documentary about that kind of dredging before for clams and it was with the aggreement of the commercials involved in it a terribly indescriminate and destructive way of fishing, basically dragging everything from the bottom killing all the small crustacea and kelp etc.

Why were they all dredging the same area at the same time???

[corbyeire]

thats a good question - surely limiting each others profits - unless they are all run by the one crowd - maybe some legislation is on the way or going to be enforced in that area - so one last rape whilst they can :roll: