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Displaying items by tag: Green Rebel Marine

Irish offshore energy survey company Green Rebel is among the Irish companies that are scaling rapidly and are showcasing their products in the United States this week as part of Enterprise Ireland's trade mission.

Green Rebel is attending events in Washington DC that focus on sustainability and St Patrick's Day celebrations with An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar TD.

Founded in Crosshaven in Cork Harbour in 2020, Green Rebel provides a range of survey and data services to the offshore renewable energy (ORE) industry.

It specialises in acquiring, processing, and analyzing marine, aerial, and met-ocean data using its fleet of survey boats and aircraft together with innovative technologies. Green Rebel has ongoing and upcoming projects in Ireland, Scotland, and off the coast of mainland Europe. It is also exploring potential projects in international markets such as the United States and Australia. "The United States represents a huge, developing market for the offshore renewable energy industry," said Kieran Ivers, CEO of Green Rebel. "There is a pipeline of work emerging and Green Rebel wants to be part of it.

An international supply chain will be needed to support the US development. We, at Green Rebel, have already demonstrated our ability to do business in Ireland and Europe from our bases in Cork and Limerick. We are looking forward to building links and developing relationships with the support of Enterprise Ireland."

Kieran Ivers will be attending events with key people from the US Department of Energy, the Chief of Staff to John Kerry, Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, and the US Ambassador to Ireland. He was a guest at the American Ireland Funds Gala and will attend the annual St. Patrick's Day Business Lunch and the Irish Embassy Reception.

Green Rebel will also be featured on a special St. Patrick's Day edition of Impact with John Shegerian, a popular weekly podcast that features conversations with some of the greatest business minds and thought leaders across the globe. The St. Patrick's Day trip is organized by Enterprise Ireland, which is hosting more than 50 overseas business events this week showcasing the Irish companies that are scaling rapidly.

Published in Power From the Sea
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Cork Harbour marine tech firm Green Rebel has won the Rising Star Award in association with Enterprise Ireland in the 2023 Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Awards.

This award recognises the innovation and growth achievements of a company which has demonstrated a promising growth trajectory and the potential for inclusion in the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 rankings in years to come.

Green Rebel is headquartered in Cork and operates a fleet of vessels and aircraft to map vast areas of the ocean. It has a team of scientists, chemists, engineers, ecologists, vessel crew and support staff across multiple locations in Cork and Limerick.

Kieran Ivers, CEO of Green Rebel said: “This award recognises the progress that has been made in the offshore wind sector in such a short space of time. The economic opportunities that lie ahead for Irish companies are significant and Green Rebel is an example of what can be achieved. The services we offer didn’t exist in Ireland three years ago, and already we’ve positioned ourselves as an organisation which can export these services to meet international demand. The market is there and it is reassuring that the value of offshore wind stays in Ireland, that jobs are created and the talent remains here. Green Rebel’s success is down to our strong teams in Cork and Limerick. We have some of Ireland's foremost scientific and engineering talent delivering to a global standard.”

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The Department of Transport has been advised that a geophysical and geotechnical surveys is being undertaken by Green Rebel Marine in the Irish Sea to assess cable burial on behalf of MDM.

The survey work was anticipated to start on Monday 19 June and will be completed by the end of September, subject to weather and operational constraints.

Surveys will be conducted by two vessels: the semi-SWATH catamaran Roman Rebel (callsign 2ICA5) which will conduct 24-hr operations, and the Lady Kathleen (callsign EIXT2), a catamaran which will conduct 12-hr operations. Both vessels will display appropriate lights and signals.

As the survey vessels will be restricted in their ability to manoeuvre when surveying, due to the deployment of the towed survey equipment from the vessel for the duration of the survey activities, other vessels are kindly requested to keep a wide berth.

Mariners are advised to keep continuous watch on VHF Channel 16 when navigating the area.

Coordinates and a map of the survey areas as well as contact details can be found in Marine Notice No 40 of 2023, attached below.

Published in News Update

Cork Harbour Offshore specialists Green Rebel will today (Thursday) share their techniques for mapping and identifying areas of the seabed suitable for wind farm developments with experts from across the globe. The company provides site investigation services to the offshore wind sector.

Jared Peters, Head of Green Rebel’s Marine division, has been invited to speak at the bi-annual Oceanology International Americas conference in San Diego. The three-day event is aimed at those involved in exploring, protecting and sustainably operating in the world’s oceans and waterways.

Green Rebel will present how its approach to geophysical surveys is helping to accelerate and streamline offshore renewable energy developments. It recently carried out a bespoke multi-sensor, multi-client campaign for offshore wind energy, which was one of the first of its kind in the world.

Jared Peters said, “We’re delighted to be asked to share our experiences at such a significant global event. We believe that multi-client surveys are the way forward, meaning the data will be readily available for developers to use. This approach reduces the environmental impact, reduces emissions as well as avoiding any potential disruption for other marine users. We’re committed to working with and around the communities who make a living from the sea and have also successfully located lost fishing gear. Other benefits include accelerating development timelines, reducing costs for developers and the potential to share data for academic research purposes.” 

Jared Peters will be joined on stage by experts from the United States and Germany, including leaders in the field of unmanned submersibles, a former hydrographer from the US Navy and a research associate from the institute for wind energy systems in Bremerhaven.

Green Rebel has a team of over 80 scientists, chemists, engineers, ecologists, vessel crew and business practitioners across multiple locations in Cork and Limerick. It offers offshore wind developers an end-to-end set of data services that extend from acquisition, processing, interpretations and reporting, with their fleet of purpose-built vessels, aircraft, floating LiDAR buoys and an in-house team of scientists and industry experts.

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Denis Crotty has been appointed Senior Projects Advisor with Green Rebel. He will be based between Green Rebel’s headquarters in Cork city and Crosshaven Boatyard. Green Rebel is an Irish company specialising in offshore site investigations for offshore wind developments. 

Denis will lead the charge in exploring Crosshaven Boatyard's potential to support the offshore wind sector while preserving the historical foundations and creating benefits for the local community.

Denis has more than 30 years of international experience in a variety of senior and executive roles on numerous large, high-profile projects, including engineering and construction contracting in Europe, the Middle East and Australia. This experience includes 20 years in the energy sector, including oil and gas, power and petrochemicals industries, as well as commercial, utilities and infrastructure industries.

He has held leadership positions within various business units covering project and site management, commercial, planning, estimating and proposals, mainly within the Kentz Group. While at Kentz, Denis was recognised with the Kentz CEO Award in 2011 and 2013 for his outstanding contribution to the company. He has also held Senior Executive positions in SNC Lavalin and Actavo.

Denis said he hopes to bring his international expertise to support the transition to offshore wind energy and the historic Crosshaven Boatyard.

Denis said: “I am very excited having returned home to Cork to progress my career in the renewable energy sector. I have more than 20 years of experience in the energy sector, and I feel I can bring this international experience back home. I am very excited to be based in the historic Crosshaven Boatyard and to be joining the Green Rebel team, which is an exciting green company in the emerging offshore wind sector in Ireland and also a major local employer.” 

Crosshaven Boatyard was established in 1961 and originally specialised in building commercial fishing boats over the years has developed to build famous yachts like Gypsy Moth V, Saint Brendan and a series of Moondusters up to the early 1980s.

Published in Crosshaven Boatyard
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Green Rebel Marine will undertake a geophysical survey campaign for an offshore wind farm in the North Celtic Sea from next Tuesday 29 March to the end of May, weather permitting.

The survey will be conducted on a 24-hour basis by the Roman Rebel (callsign 2ICA5), which will display appropriate lights and signals.

The survey will utilise multibeam echo sounders, sub-bottom profilers, side-scan sonars, magnetometers and ultra-high-resolution survey equipment, both hull-mounted and towed.

Typically, the towed cable lengths will be about four times the water depth while acquiring survey data.

Mariners are advised to keep continuous watch on VHF Channel 16 when navigating the areas of operation, coordinates of which are detailed in Marine Notice No 16 of 2022 attached below.

All vessels operating in the vicinity of these operations are requested to keep their distance and pass at minimum speed to reduce vessel wash.

Published in Power From the Sea

Green Rebel has announced plans to create 50 jobs over the next 12 months. 

Green Rebel is an Irish owned business established to service the current and future needs of offshore wind farms. The new positions will include survey vessel crew, technicians and engineers, data scientists and surveyors, ecologists, aircraft mission specialists, project managers, office administrators, AI specialists, software developers and sales and marketing roles. The jobs will be spread across Green Rebel’s Crosshaven, Cork Airport and Limerick offices.

The company currently employs 75 staff and that number will grow to 125 by the middle of 2022. Taoiseach Micheal Martin joined Green Rebel to announce the jobs.

Taoiseach Micheal Martin said: “I am delighted to join Green Rebel to announce the creation of 50 jobs over the next 12 months. Having seen the technology, met many of the team, and seen some of the Green Rebel data from what is normally our hidden marine environment, I am excited that this team are having such success and innovative plans are in place to drive our supply chain forward and help Ireland become a world leader in the development of offshore wind.”

CEO of Green Rebel, John Wallace said: “We are very excited about our plans to grow and develop Green Rebel over the coming year. The waters around Ireland and further afield are set to become a major source of renewable energy generation and this is an absolutely essential element of effort to combat climate change. The quality survey work being undertaken by Green Rebel right now is designed to both protect the environment and allow wind farm developers to harness its potential. The company operates a growing fleet of state-of-the-art survey aircraft and survey vessels that capture enormous datasets that are processed by a world class team of data scientists across all disciplines. The need for revolution has never been greater and at Green Rebel we are passionate about being a dynamic contributor to help achieve a more sustainable future for all. We are building on a team with great experience and we are looking for people that share this passion.”

Founder of Green Rebel, Pearse Flynn said: “Ireland is on the cusp of a green revolution. With an abundance of offshore wind and water available to us, we can produce real fuel alternatives to help deliver Ireland’s energy transition. Wind generated offshore will pay a significant role in providing energy security and helping Ireland become a net exporter of green, renewable energy. Wind generation will bring ashore electricity that can be used either directly into the grid, or feed exciting new green energy solutions provided by our sister company EI-H2, who are looking to produce green hydrogen at sites in County Cork and beyond.”

Green Rebel is headquartered in Crosshaven, Cork and plays a key role in the development of the offshore wind sector. Using their fleet of ships, aircraft and innovative technology, the growing, diverse, and energetic team specialise in the collection, processing, and analysis of marine and metocean data. The company and its team helps accelerate green energy developments in the most sustainable and ecologically responsible manner possible.

Plans for offshore wind farms are at an advanced stage with a number of potential fixed and floating operators examining sites along the Irish coastline. Green Rebel is engaging with all developers to provide world-class data acquisition and processing capabilities on their doorstep.

Published in Power From the Sea

Green Rebel Marine in Crosshaven intends to conduct geophysical survey operations off the South Coast between Cork and Waterford cities over an extended period of time, up to a year from this Thursday 3 June.

The survey will be conducted by two vessels: the semi-SWATH catamaran Roman Rebel (callsign 2ICA5) which will conduct 24-hr operations, and the Lady Kathleen (callsign EIXT2), a catamaran which will conduct 12-hr operations. Both vessels will display appropriate lights and signals.

The geophysical survey will use a multibeam echosounder and sub-bottom profilers, which will be hull-mounted, as well as side-scan sonars and magnetometers that will be towed using dedicated winches at cable lengths dictated by the water depth (typically four times the water depth while acquiring data).

Full details of coordinates of the survey areas are included in Marine Notice No 33 of 2021, a PDF of which can be downloaded below.

Published in Coastal Notes

Green Rebel Marine in Crosshaven is set to undertake a geophysical survey operation in the Celtic Sea from next week.

The survey from next Wednesday 26 May to 23 June, weather permitting, will be conducted by the Roman Rebel (callsign 2ICA5) using hull-mounted multibeam and sub-bottom profiling systems.

In addition, the vessel will be towing side-scan sonars and magnetometers using dedicated winches at cable lengths dictated by the water depth. Typically, the cable lengths will be about four times the water depth while acquiring data.

The Roman Rebel will display appropriate lights and signals and all survey operations will be conducted 24 hours a day, continuous over day and night.

Full details of coordinates of the survey areas are included in Marine Notice No 32 of 2021, which can be downloaded below.

Published in Coastal Notes

The first digital aerial ecology surveys of Irish coastal waters to be undertaken by a domestic company are about to begin following the arrival of a new special mission aircraft owned by Green Rebel Group into Cork Airport. The company is leading efforts to establish Cork Harbour as a Green Energy Hub, beginning with a new partnership between Green Rebel Group, Cork Airport, the Atlantic Flight Training Academy (AFTA) and Weston Aviation.

Green Rebel Group acquired the aircraft to undertake ecological assessments as part of the planning process for marine renewable energy projects, including offshore wind farms. The new €1.5 million twin-engine Diamond Air DA42 aircraft will be used to survey thousands of square miles of ocean. The DA-42 is the most environmentally-friendly aircraft of its class on the market, in keeping with Green Rebel Group’s mission to reduce the dependence on energy from fossil fuels. The aircraft - with tail registration EI-GRM - will be permanently based at Cork Airport.

With the purchase of this aircraft, Green Rebel Group will be the only domestic Irish company offering digital aerial surveys for ecological assessments associated with marine renewable energy projects. Green Rebel has partnered with AFTA, which will be the specialist operator (SPO) for the aircraft. The aircraft will be based at the Weston Aviation hangar at Cork Airport. Its arrival has resulted in the creation of 15 direct jobs, and there are plans for further job creation over the coming years, which will ensure Cork is one of the leading players in the green energy sector.

Each aerial survey flight will generate terabytes of high-quality imagery. In order to store, process, and backup this data, Green Rebel Group has also built a world-class marine data centre. The high-spec server and supporting IT infrastructure are housed in a secure location at the Cork Airport Business Park. The data will be used to map the abundance of marine wildlife, which is critical to ensure wind farms are built in the most suitable locations.

Sarah Kandrot, Head of Aerial Surveys with Green Rebel Group said: “This aircraft will help us to compile information that will ensure offshore wind farms are built in the best locations to protect the ecology of the ocean. We are delighted that our aircraft has arrived in Cork, which means we can now begin conducting these important surveys. With this aircraft, large sections of the ocean can be surveyed over a shorter period of time than can be achieved with traditional boat-based surveys. Thanks to the ultra high-spec of our camera equipment, our aircraft will be flying at heights that will not cause any disturbance to birds or marine megafauna while at the same time allowing us to collect the highest-quality digital imagery.”

Mick Horgan, CEO of Green Rebel Group said: “I am hugely proud of the Green Rebel team and what they have achieved. We have put together an amazing team of data acquisition specialists and data scientists who are all experts in their respective fields. I have every faith that our aerial survey division will be second to none.”

Niall MacCarthy, Managing Director at Cork Airport, said: “We are delighted to welcome the Green Rebel Group to Cork Airport. Covid-19 has provided us with opportunities to diversify our business into new areas supporting cargo, offshore gas and wind operations. As a key economic enabler for the region, Cork Airport will play a big role in the economic recovery ahead. The addition of the Green Rebel Group aircraft based here at Cork Airport will help create new job opportunities particularly in the green energy sector. The Green Rebel Marine Diamond Aviation 42 aircraft will be based at the Weston Aviation Hangar at Cork Airport and we wish them every success in this exciting new offshore wind venture.”

Mark Casey, CEO of AFTA said: “AFTA are delighted to have been chosen as the SPO operator for the specialist air survey delivery for Green Rebel Marine. It is fantastic to see local investment by GRM in aviation and marine infrastructure creating high quality local jobs for the Munster region. The Special Mission DA42 NG is an environmentally friendly low impact survey and reconnaissance and survey platform. The aircraft is powered by the AE300 aero diesel power plant and can run on 100% Algae based Biofuel. AFTA are proud to be a part of Green Rebel's mission to reduce the dependence on energy from fossil fuels and move towards a sustainable offshore wind energy solution.”

CEO of Weston Aviation, Nick Weston said: “We are delighted to be working closely with the Green Rebel Team in this exciting new venture adding to the rapidly developing offshore operations that both Weston Aviation and Cork Airport can offer in the region. Our ideally located FBO and hangar at the airport is a perfect base for aircraft and passenger processing for these highly complex missions.”

Published in Power From the Sea
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Irish Fishing industry 

The Irish Commercial Fishing Industry employs around 11,000 people in fishing, processing and ancillary services such as sales and marketing. The industry is worth about €1.22 billion annually to the Irish economy. Irish fisheries products are exported all over the world as far as Africa, Japan and China.

FAQs

Over 16,000 people are employed directly or indirectly around the coast, working on over 2,000 registered fishing vessels, in over 160 seafood processing businesses and in 278 aquaculture production units, according to the State's sea fisheries development body Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM).

All activities that are concerned with growing, catching, processing or transporting fish are part of the commercial fishing industry, the development of which is overseen by BIM. Recreational fishing, as in angling at sea or inland, is the responsibility of Inland Fisheries Ireland.

The Irish fishing industry is valued at 1.22 billion euro in gross domestic product (GDP), according to 2019 figures issued by BIM. Only 179 of Ireland's 2,000 vessels are over 18 metres in length. Where does Irish commercially caught fish come from? Irish fish and shellfish is caught or cultivated within the 200-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ), but Irish fishing grounds are part of the common EU "blue" pond. Commercial fishing is regulated under the terms of the EU Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), initiated in 1983 and with ten-yearly reviews.

The total value of seafood landed into Irish ports was 424 million euro in 2019, according to BIM. High value landings identified in 2019 were haddock, hake, monkfish and megrim. Irish vessels also land into foreign ports, while non-Irish vessels land into Irish ports, principally Castletownbere, Co Cork, and Killybegs, Co Donegal.

There are a number of different methods for catching fish, with technological advances meaning skippers have detailed real time information at their disposal. Fisheries are classified as inshore, midwater, pelagic or deep water. Inshore targets species close to shore and in depths of up to 200 metres, and may include trawling and gillnetting and long-lining. Trawling is regarded as "active", while "passive" or less environmentally harmful fishing methods include use of gill nets, long lines, traps and pots. Pelagic fisheries focus on species which swim close to the surface and up to depths of 200 metres, including migratory mackerel, and tuna, and methods for catching include pair trawling, purse seining, trolling and longlining. Midwater fisheries target species at depths of around 200 metres, using trawling, longlining and jigging. Deepwater fisheries mainly use trawling for species which are found at depths of over 600 metres.

There are several segments for different catching methods in the registered Irish fleet – the largest segment being polyvalent or multi-purpose vessels using several types of gear which may be active and passive. The polyvalent segment ranges from small inshore vessels engaged in netting and potting to medium and larger vessels targeting whitefish, pelagic (herring, mackerel, horse mackerel and blue whiting) species and bivalve molluscs. The refrigerated seawater (RSW) pelagic segment is engaged mainly in fishing for herring, mackerel, horse mackerel and blue whiting only. The beam trawling segment focuses on flatfish such as sole and plaice. The aquaculture segment is exclusively for managing, developing and servicing fish farming areas and can collect spat from wild mussel stocks.

The top 20 species landed by value in 2019 were mackerel (78 million euro); Dublin Bay prawn (59 million euro); horse mackerel (17 million euro); monkfish (17 million euro); brown crab (16 million euro); hake (11 million euro); blue whiting (10 million euro); megrim (10 million euro); haddock (9 million euro); tuna (7 million euro); scallop (6 million euro); whelk (5 million euro); whiting (4 million euro); sprat (3 million euro); herring (3 million euro); lobster (2 million euro); turbot (2 million euro); cod (2 million euro); boarfish (2 million euro).

Ireland has approximately 220 million acres of marine territory, rich in marine biodiversity. A marine biodiversity scheme under Ireland's operational programme, which is co-funded by the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund and the Government, aims to reduce the impact of fisheries and aquaculture on the marine environment, including avoidance and reduction of unwanted catch.

EU fisheries ministers hold an annual pre-Christmas council in Brussels to decide on total allowable catches and quotas for the following year. This is based on advice from scientific bodies such as the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea. In Ireland's case, the State's Marine Institute publishes an annual "stock book" which provides the most up to date stock status and scientific advice on over 60 fish stocks exploited by the Irish fleet. Total allowable catches are supplemented by various technical measures to control effort, such as the size of net mesh for various species.

The west Cork harbour of Castletownbere is Ireland's biggest whitefish port. Killybegs, Co Donegal is the most important port for pelagic (herring, mackerel, blue whiting) landings. Fish are also landed into Dingle, Co Kerry, Rossaveal, Co Galway, Howth, Co Dublin and Dunmore East, Co Waterford, Union Hall, Co Cork, Greencastle, Co Donegal, and Clogherhead, Co Louth. The busiest Northern Irish ports are Portavogie, Ardglass and Kilkeel, Co Down.

Yes, EU quotas are allocated to other fleets within the Irish EEZ, and Ireland has long been a transhipment point for fish caught by the Spanish whitefish fleet in particular. Dingle, Co Kerry has seen an increase in foreign landings, as has Castletownbere. The west Cork port recorded foreign landings of 36 million euro or 48 per cent in 2019, and has long been nicknamed the "peseta" port, due to the presence of Spanish-owned transhipment plant, Eiranova, on Dinish island.

Most fish and shellfish caught or cultivated in Irish waters is for the export market, and this was hit hard from the early stages of this year's Covid-19 pandemic. The EU, Asia and Britain are the main export markets, while the middle Eastern market is also developing and the African market has seen a fall in value and volume, according to figures for 2019 issued by BIM.

Fish was once a penitential food, eaten for religious reasons every Friday. BIM has worked hard over several decades to develop its appeal. Ireland is not like Spain – our land is too good to transform us into a nation of fish eaters, but the obvious health benefits are seeing a growth in demand. Seafood retail sales rose by one per cent in 2019 to 300 million euro. Salmon and cod remain the most popular species, while BIM reports an increase in sales of haddock, trout and the pangasius or freshwater catfish which is cultivated primarily in Vietnam and Cambodia and imported by supermarkets here.

The EU's Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), initiated in 1983, pooled marine resources – with Ireland having some of the richest grounds and one of the largest sea areas at the time, but only receiving four per cent of allocated catch by a quota system. A system known as the "Hague Preferences" did recognise the need to safeguard the particular needs of regions where local populations are especially dependent on fisheries and related activities. The State's Sea Fisheries Protection Authority, based in Clonakilty, Co Cork, works with the Naval Service on administering the EU CFP. The Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine and Department of Transport regulate licensing and training requirements, while the Marine Survey Office is responsible for the implementation of all national and international legislation in relation to safety of shipping and the prevention of pollution.

Yes, a range of certificates of competency are required for skippers and crew. Training is the remit of BIM, which runs two national fisheries colleges at Greencastle, Co Donegal and Castletownbere, Co Cork. There have been calls for the colleges to be incorporated into the third-level structure of education, with qualifications recognised as such.

Safety is always an issue, in spite of technological improvements, as fishing is a hazardous occupation and climate change is having its impact on the severity of storms at sea. Fishing skippers and crews are required to hold a number of certificates of competency, including safety and navigation, and wearing of personal flotation devices is a legal requirement. Accidents come under the remit of the Marine Casualty Investigation Board, and the Health and Safety Authority. The MCIB does not find fault or blame, but will make recommendations to the Minister for Transport to avoid a recurrence of incidents.

Fish are part of a marine ecosystem and an integral part of the marine food web. Changing climate is having a negative impact on the health of the oceans, and there have been more frequent reports of warmer water species being caught further and further north in Irish waters.

Brexit, Covid 19, EU policies and safety – Britain is a key market for Irish seafood, and 38 per cent of the Irish catch is taken from the waters around its coast. Ireland's top two species – mackerel and prawns - are 60 per cent and 40 per cent, respectively, dependent on British waters. Also, there are serious fears within the Irish industry about the impact of EU vessels, should they be expelled from British waters, opting to focus even more efforts on Ireland's rich marine resource. Covid-19 has forced closure of international seafood markets, with high value fish sold to restaurants taking a large hit. A temporary tie-up support scheme for whitefish vessels introduced for the summer of 2020 was condemned by industry organisations as "designed to fail".

Sources: Bord Iascaigh Mhara, Marine Institute, Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine, Department of Transport © Afloat 2020