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#Coastal Rowing: The inaugural Irish Coastal Rowing Championships will take place this Saturday and Sunday, August 18th and 19th at the National Rowing Centre in Farran Wood, Cork. Clubs from all four provinces are set to compete.

 Eddie Farr, chair of the Coastal Championships Committee, said: “This is an incredibly proud moment in all our rowing lives, to at last get to row at our national and international rowing venue.”

 The Championships, hosted by Rushbrooke Rowing Club, will see clubs race in over 30 different race categories, ranging from Under 12 to Masters, with race lengths ranging from 800 to 2,300 metres.  Several thousand rowers and spectators are expected to attend the two day Championships.

 The long-standing All Ireland Coastal Rowing Championships will also be held this weekend, from Friday to Sunday (August 17th to 19th) in Wexford. There will be an array of races in one-design Celtic boats, Currachs, East coast Skiffs, Wexford cots, Kerry four-oars, Donegal skiffs and Seine boats.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: NUIG overtook Commercial and won the men's senior four at the Irish Rowing Championships in Cork today. The other senior title on offer in the second session of finals at the National Rowing Centre went to Mark O'Donovan in the single sculls. The 26-year-old Skibbereen man, rating much higher than his rivals, established an early lead and was not caught. It was his first senior singles sculls crown.

 Portora also took the lead early and won the junior 18 eights - but the Cork Boat Club challenge was severe. This fine race lasted right to the line and was decided by under half a second.

 Neptune added the women's novice coxed quadruple title to their men's title, won earlier in the day, while UCD won the women's intermediate eight. The Dublin college also took the men's club eight.

Irish Rowing Championships, National Rowing Centre, Cork, Day One (Selected Results)

Men

Eight - Club: UCD 5:56.392. Junior: 1 Portora 5:59.419, 2 Cork 5:59.84, 3 St Joseph's A 6:10.731.

Four - Senior: 1 NUIG 6:03.081, 2 Commercial 6:05.925, 3 Portora 6:09.284. Inter, coxed: 1 NUIG 6:26.811.

Sculling, Quadruple - Novice, coxed: Neptune 6:44.559.

Double - Senior: 1 Skibbereen 6:32.773, 2 UCD 6:34.914, 3 Castleconnell 6:39.727.

Single - Senior: 1 Skibbereen (M O'Donovan) 7:04.162, 2 UCD (T Hughes) 7:10.256, 3 Portadown (S McKeown) 7:12.256. Junior: 1 Clonmel (D Lynch) 7:04.040, 2 Shandon (R Byrne) 7:04.462, 3 Shandon (S O'Sullivan) 7:23.197.

Women

Eight - Intermediate: UCD 6:38.722. Four - Senior: 1 UCD 6:54.652, 2 Skibbereen/UCC 6:58.902, 3 Trinity 7:04.715. Club, coxed: Fermoy 7:16.116.

Four - Junior: 1 Skibbereen 7:05.645, 2 Shandon A 7:13.661, 3 Galway 7:19.145.

Pair - Intermediate: Cork 7:36.488

Sculling, Quadruple - Novice, coxed: Neptune A 7:55.460.

Double - Junior: 1 Skibbereen B 7:19.682, 2 Bann 7:91.995, 3 Neptune 7:33.305.

 

 Skibbereen brought their tally of title for the day to four with a win in the women's junior four.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: The entry for the Irish Indoor Rowing Championships has both quantity and quality, with Irish rowers who are set to compete at the Olympic Games in the mix. Gary O’Donovan will compete in lightweight class and Paul O’Donovan in the under-23 lightweight class.

Claire Lambe, who partnered Sinéad Jennings in the Ireland lightweight women’s double crew which qualified the boat for Rio, is also entered. Jennings may do a Wattbike test.

Among the heavyweight men, Philip Doyle, Sam McKeown and Dave Neale will be among those competing to set the top mark, while Sanita Puspure, an Olympian in 2012, should be the fastest woman.

The Championships have a record entry and will be held in Limerick on January 23rd.

Published in Rowing

# ROWING: Grainne Mhaol/NUIG won an exciting senior eights final at the Irish Rowing Championships at the National Rowing Centre in Cork today. Queen’s University fought it out with the crew from the Galway college and their old boys’ club, but a Grainne Mhaol/NUIG push in the final 250 metres gave them the big prize in a close finish. The victorious crew dedicated the win to Tom Tuohy, the long-time NUIG coach who died last year in his mid fifties.

Queen’s, in combination with Skibbereen, rowed well to win the women’s senior eights crown, and Portora’s Lloyd Seaman and Henry Millar also impressed as they won the men’s junior pairs title. Amy Bulman of UCD had one of the tightest margins of the three days of the Championships as she beat Karen Corcoran-O’Hare by .34 of a second in the women’s intermediate single sculls final.

UCD won the men’s intermediate double sculls, while Trinity concluded a very good Championships by winning the women’s novice eight. Skibbereen moved their overall total to 136 titles as they won the women’s junior quadruple scull.

Irish Rowing Championships, Day Three (Selected Results)

Men

Eight – Senior: 1 Grainne Mhaol/NUIG 5:38.47, 2 Queen’s 5:40.25, 3 Trinity 5:53.82, 4 St Michael’s 5:57.31.

Four, coxed - Novice: 1 Queen’s 6:32.18, 2 UCC 6:37.29, 3 UCD 6:41.37.

Pair – Intermediate: 1 NUIG 6:50.70, 2 UCD 6:53.88, 3 Lee Valley 6:58.90. Junior: 1 Portora 6:54.35, 2 Commercial 7:01.33, 3 St Joseph’s 7:13.00.

Sculling,

Double – Intermediate: 1 UCD 6:35.90, 2 Neptune 6:38,37, 3 Skibbereen 6:45.99. Junior: 1 Shandon 6:54.84, 2 Skibbereen 6:46.49, 3 Lee 6:48.16.

Single – Senior: 1 Lee Valley (J Keohane) 7:00.30, 2 UCC (N Kenny) 7:03.51, 3 Skibbereen (P O’Donovan) 7:10.09, 4 Offaly (O’Donoghue) 7:26.29, 5 Carlow (Bolger) 7:27.10. UCD (Neale) Dnf.  

Women

Eight – Senior: 1 Queen’s LBC/Skibbereen 6:25.48, 2 UCD 6:30.19, 3 Trinity 6:30.40, 4 St Michael’s 6:40.28, 5 NUIG 6:41.79. Novice: 1 Trinity 6:51.68, 2 UCD 6:54.72, 3 NUIG 6:57.71.

Four, coxed – Intermediate: 1 St Michael’s 7:11.00, 2 UCD 7:23.15, 3 NUIG 7:27.26.

Pair – Junior: 1 Bann 7:44.22, 2 Muckross 7:45.21, 3 Cork BC 7:54.81.

Sculling, Quadruple – Junior: 1 Skibbereen 6:55.31, 2 Cork 7:02.99, 3 Shandon 7:04.47.

Single – Senior: 1 Three Castles (H Walshe) 7:42.45, 2 Killorglin (M Dukarska) 7:42.85, 3 Three Castles (E Moran) 7:55.91, 4 Belfast BC (B Jacques) 7:59.48, 5 Three Castles (B Quinn) 8:06.22, 6 Skibbereen (O Hayes) 8:08.54. Intermediate: 1 UCD (A Bulman) 8:04.33, 2 Shandon (K Corcoran-O’Hare) 8:04.67, 3 Trinity (S Dolan) 8:16.55.

Published in Rowing

# ROWING: For the second year in succession, the final of the women’s senior single scull produced a dramatic finish at the Irish Rowing Championships. Last year Monika Dukarska of Killorglin fell in when within metres of a win, and this year she seemed certain to make amends as she passed Helen Walshe of Three Castles and drove for the line at the National Rowing Centre. But Walshe, who won in 2004 and 2006 for UCD, mounted her own charge and won by .4 of a second.

John Keohane of Lee Valley won the men’s senior single with plenty to spare and there were emphatic wins for Queen’s (in the men’s novice coxed four); NUIG (men’s intermediate pair) and St Michael’s (women’s intermediate coxed four).

Shandon had to hold off a late push by Skibbereen in the men’s junior double scull and the women’s junior pair was also a tremendously close race, with Bann coming out on top in a battle with Muckross.

Irish Rowing Championships, Day Three (Selected Results)

Men

Four, coxed - Novice: 1 Queen’s 6:32.18, 2 UCC 6:37.29, 3 UCD 6:41.37.

Pair – Intermediate: 1 NUIG 6:50.70, 2 UCD 6:53.88, 3 Lee Valley 6:58.90.

Sculling,

Double – Junior: 1 Shandon 6:54.84, 2 Skibbereen 6:46.49, 3 Lee 6:48.16.

Single – Senior: 1 Lee Valley (J Keohane) 7:00.30, 2 UCC (N Kenny) 7:03.51, 3 Skibbereen (P O’Donovan) 7:10.09, 4 Offaly (O’Donoghue) 7:26.29, 5 Carlow (Bolger) 7:27.10. UCD (Neale) Dnf.  

Women

Four, coxed – Intermediate: 1 St Michael’s 7:11.00, 2 UCD 7:23.15, 3 NUIG 7:27.26.

Pair – Junior: 1 Bann 7:44.22, 2 Muckross 7:45.21, 3 Cork BC 7:54.81.

Sculling, Single – Senior: 1 Three Castles (H Walshe) 7:42.45, 2 Killorglin (M Dukarska) 7:42.85, 3 Three Castles (E Moran) 7:55.91, 4 Belfast BC (B Jacques) 7:59.48, 5 Three Castles (B Quinn) 8:06.22, 6 Skibbereen (O Hayes) 8:08.54.

Published in Rowing

# ROWING: The second session of finals on the second day of the Irish Rowing Championships produced two cracking races. Galway Rowing Club won the women’s junior 18 eight final by overhauling Muckross stroke by stroke and then holding off their battling yellow-clad rivals until the line. The men’s senior quadruple sculls produced a surprise victory for the University of Limerick/Castleconnell crew after a similarly gutsy drive which saw them take on and beat Queen’s University.

The final four races were all won by big margins. Claire McIlwaine and Alex Greene gave Queen’s an immediate fillip when they won the women’s senior pair, and Brooke Edgar of Bann in the women’s novice single, Dave Neale of UCD in the intermediate single and Skibbereen in the men’s junior quadruple were all well in charge of their races.

Irish Rowing Championships, National Rowing Centre, Cork. Day Two (Selected Results)

Men

Eight – Intermediate: 1 Trinity 6:11.27, 2 NUIG 6:15.32, 3 UCD 6:15.42.

Four – Junior, coxed: 1 Portora 6:58.48, 2 Bann 7:02.24, 3 St Joseph’s A 7:02.36.

Pair – Senior: 1 Bann (C Black, J Cassells) 6:52.02, 2 Queen’s (P Gilanders, T Oliver) 6:57.09, 3 St Michael’s A (A McEvoy, M O’Brien) 6:59.86

Sculling, Quadruple – Senior: 1 University of Limerick/Castleconnell (L Rice, S Penny, A Sheehan, D Quinlan) 6:03.59, 2 Queen’s 6:04.28, 3 Carlow 6:04.99. Junior: 1 Skibbereen 6:15.17, 2 Shannon 6:26.55, 3 Cork 6:27.76.

Single – Intermediate: 1 UCD (D Neale) 7:12.01, 2 Portora (Monteith) 7:20.31, 3 Castleconnell (Pidgeon) 7:25.16. Novice: 1 Skibbereen (R O’Neill) 7:54.04, 2 Cappoquin (Landers), 3 Clonmel (Murphy) 7:54.39.

Women

Eight - Junior: 1 Galway RC 6:43.41, 2 Muckross 6:46.40, 3 St Michael’s 7:00.20.

Pair – Senior: 1 Queen’s (C McIwaine, A Greene) 7:29.70, 2 St Michael’s 7:40.64, 3 Cork 7:52.04.

Sculling

Double – Intermediate: 1 Skibbereen (L Connolly, E Cialis) 7:46.82, 2 NUIG 7:49.05, 3 Neptune 7:54.38.

Single – Novice: 1 Bann (Edgar) 8:19.22, 2 Commercial (Foley) 8:31.85, 3 Castleconnell (Donegan) 8:43.83. Junior: 1 Fermoy (H Shinnick) 8:12.60, 2 St Michael’s (K O’Brien) 8:14.64, 3 Portora (Cromie) 8:17.35.

Published in Rowing

# ROWING: The junior pair which will represent Ireland at the World Championships next month today won the senior pairs title at the Irish Rowing Championships. Bann’s Chris Black and Joel Cassells are an excellent crew and they showed it by taking a lead at the National Rowing Centre after 500 metres and never relinquishing it despite pressure from St Michael’s of Limerick.

Hilary Shinnick also held off St Michael’s, represented by Kate O’Brien, to win the junior single sculls’ title. Shinnick is just 17, but it was her second successive title. Shinnick will be part of a junior quadruple at the Worlds, while O'Brien will compete in a single scull.

The junior men’s coxed fours went to Portora of Enniskillen, while Skibbereen conitinued to notch up titles – Rory O’Neill took the novice single sculls crown, while Laura Connolly and Ella Cialis took the women’s intermediate double scull.

Trinity continued their good form with a win in the men’s intermediate eights.

Irish Rowing Championships, National Rowing Centre, Cork. Day Two, First Session (Selected Results)

Men,

Eight – Intermediate: 1 Trinity 6:11.27, 2 NUIG 6:15.32, 3 UCD 6:15.42.

Four – Junior, coxed: 1 Portora 6:58.48, 2 Bann 7:02.24, 3 St Joseph’s A 7:02.36.

Pair – Senior: 1 Bann (C Black, J Cassells) 6:52.02, 2 Queen’s (P Gilanders, T Oliver) 6:57.09, 3 St Michael’s A (A McEvoy, M O’Brien) 6:59.86

Sculling, Single – Novice: 1 Skibbereen (R O’Neill) 7:54.04, 2 Cappoquin (Landers), 3 Clonmel (Murphy) 7:54.39.

Women

Sculling, Double – Intermediate: 1 Skibbereen (L Connolly, E Cialis) 7:46.82, 2 NUIG 7:49.05, 3 Neptune 7:54.38.

Single – Junior: 1 Fermoy (H Shinnick) 8:12.60, 2 St Michael’s (K O’Brien) 8:14.64, 3 Portora (Cromie) 8:17.35.

Published in Rowing

# ROWING: Grainne Mhaol had a surprisingly easy win the men’s senior four final at the Irish Championships at the National Rowing Centre in Cork. The crew of Dave Mannion, Alan Martin, Cormac Folan and James Wall led down the course. St Michael’s were second.

The junior men’s eight title also went to Galway, in the form of St Joseph’s, and the junior women’s four was won impressively by Muckross. Queen’s University took the men’s novice eight crown, and Three Castles had plenty to spare in the women’s senior double. Niall Kenny of UCC is the new Ireland champion in the lightweight single scull.

Irish Rowing Championships, Sponsored by SuperValu – Day One (Selected Results; Finals)

Men, Eight – Novice: 1 Queen’s University, Belfast 6:04.55, 2 UCD 6:10.94, 3 Trinity 6:16.26. Junior: 1 St Joseph’s College, Galway 6:03.87, 2 Methodist College, Belfast 6:10.72, 3 Galway RC 6:15.28.

Four – Senior: 1 Grainne Mhaol (D Mannion, A Martin, C Folan, James Wall) 6:19.06, 2 St Michael’s 6:22.35, 3 Queen’s 6:27.21.

Four, coxed – Intermediate: 1 Trinity 6:33.15, 2 NUIG A 6:33.74, 3 Bann 6:35.47.

Sculling, Quadruple – Novice, coxed: 1 Galway 6:55.56, 2 Shandon 6:58.56, 3 NUIG 7:57.82.

Double – Senior: 1 Queen’s (C Williamson, R O’Connor) 6:41.29, 2 Carlow 6:43.83, 3 University of Limerick 6:54.88.

Single – Lightweight: 1 UCC (Kenny) 7:20.40, 2 St Michael’s (O’Connor) 7:35.61, 3 Skibbereen (Burns) 7:35.73. Junior: 1 Skibbereen (P O’Donovan) 7:19.67, 2 Castleconnell (Quinlan), 3 Neptune (Griffin).

Women

Eight – Intermediate: 1 Trinity 6:44,80, 2 UCD 6:45.0, 3 St Michael’s 6:53.50.

Four - Senior: 1 Skibbereen (G Hosford, C Fitzgerald, D Walsh, S Dineen) 7:01.98, 2 Queen’s 7:11.86, 3 UCD 7:14.21. Junior: 1 Muckross 7:18.76, 2 Bann, 3 Galway.

Four, coxed – Novice: 1 NUIG 7:41.38, 2 Trinity 7:44.07, 3 University of Limerick 7:51.97.

Sculling, Double – Senior: 1 Three Castles (H Walshe, E Moran) 7:13.79, 2 Skibbereen 7:24.60. Junior: 1 Belfast BC (L Litvack, B Jacques) 7:36.55. 2 Neptune 7:50.63, 3 Carrick-on-Shannon 7:59.40.

Published in Rowing

# ROWING: The first session of the Irish Rowing Championships, run in almost perfect conditions at the National Rowing Centre in Cork, finished with some terrific finals.

 The closest race was the shootout between NUIG and Trinity in the men’s intermediate coxed four. NUIG had taken over the lead from Trinity and led as the crews charged for the line. But Trinity upped the rate and took the title on the line. Earlier, NUIG had reversed the order as they took the women’s novice coxed four, with Trinity second.

There were a string of impressive wins in senior and junior classes. At senior level the Skibbereen women’s four took their third successive title with ease, and the Queen’s double of Colin Williamson and Rory O’Connor matched the feat. The junior women’s double of Lucie Litvack and Bridget Jacques and single sculler Paul O’Donovan also demonstrated their skills with classy wins.

 

Irish Rowing Championships – Day One (Selected Results; Finals)

Men

Four, coxed – Intermediate: 1 Trinity 6:33.15, 2 NUIG A 6:33.74, 3 Bann 6:35.47.

Sculling, Double – Senior: 1 Queen’s (C Williamson, R O’Connor) 6:41.29, 2 Carlow 6:43.83, 3 University of Limerick 6:54.88.

Single – Junior: 1 Skibbereen (P O’Donovan) 7:19.67, 2 Castleconnell (Quinlan), 3 Neptune (Griffin).

Women

Four - Senior: 1 Skibbereen (G Hosford, C Fitzgerald, D Walsh, S Dineen) 7:01.98, 2 Queen’s 7:11.86, 3 UCD 7:14.21.

Four, coxed – Novice: 1 NUIG 7:41.38, 2 Trinity 7:44.07, 3 University of Limerick 7:51.97.

Sculling, Double – Junior: 1 Belfast BC (L Litvack, B Jacques) 7:36.55. 2 Neptune 7:50.63, 3 Carrick-on-Shannon 7:59.40.

Published in Rowing

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