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Displaying items by tag: O'Donovan

#WorldUnder-23Rowing: Paul O’Donovan won his heat at the World Under-23 Rowing Championships in Linz in Austria today. The lightweight sculler controlled the race and though any of the top four places would have taken him through to the quarter-finals, his win gives him a better lane draw on Friday. Adam Ling of New Zealand was second, 2.66 seconds behind the UCD man.In the final race of the day, Adam Boreham also qualified for his quarter-final, finishing fourth of five in his heat of the single sculls.

World Under-23 Championships, Linz, Austria – Day One (Irish interest)

Men

Four – One Crew Directly to A Final, Rest to Repechage – Heat Two: 1 Romania 6:08.20; Australia 6:13.69, 3 Croatia 6:14.98, 4 Britain 6:15.40, 5 Ireland (R Bennett, M Wray, J Mitchell, R O’Callaghan) 6:18.48.

Single Sculls - First Four to Quarter-Finals, Rest to Repechage – Heat Five: 1 Germany 7:11.64, 2 Slovakia 7:13.99, 3 Montenegro 7:16.60, 4 Ireland (A Boreham) 7:28.36; 5 El Salvador 7:36.19.

Lightweight Single Sculls – First Four to Quarter-Finals, Rest to Repechage – Heat Four: 1 Ireland (P O’Donovan) 7:12.40, 2 New Zealand (A Ling) 7:15.06, 3 Germany (C Mertens) 7:18.66, 4 Slovakia (R Vanco) 7:21.20; 4 Canada (M Christie) 7:24.75.

Women

Four – One Crew Directly to A Final, Rest to Repechage – Heat One: 1 Australia 6:44.65; 2 Ireland (E Tormey, A Sheehan, A Keogh, L Dilleen) 6:54.39, 3 New Zealand 6:54.45, 4 United States 6:55.34, 5 Germany 6:57.42, 6 France 7:05.06. Heat Two (qualifier): 1 Russia 6:50.08.

 

Published in Rowing

# ROWING: Paul O’Donovan is the Afloat Rower of the Month for June. The UCD man had a remarkable start to his career as a senior international, beating former world champion Duncan Grant to win their heat of the lightweight single sculls at the World Cup regatta at Dorney Lake. He qualified for the final by taking second place in the semi-final, and while he found it difficult to find his rhythm in the final, the 19-year-old Skibbereen man had already made his mark. He will represent Ireland at the World Under-23 Championships in Linz in Austria later this month.

Rower of the Month awards: The judging panel is made up of Liam Gorman, rowing correspondent of The Irish Times and David O'Brien, Editor of Afloat magazine. Monthly awards for achievements during the year will appear on afloat.ie and the overall national award will be presented to the person or crew who, in the judges' opinion, achieved the most notable results in, or made the most significant contribution to rowing during 2013. Keep a monthly eye on progress and watch our 2013 champions list grow.

Published in Rowing

# ROWING WORLD CUP: Ireland’s Claire Lambe finished fifth and Paul O’Donovan sixth in their lightweight single sculls finals this morning at the World Cup regatta at Dorney Lake. In a fast race, O’Donovan stayed in contention for bronze until the closing stages: Pedro Fraga of Portugal won, with Steffen Jensen second. His fellow Dane Andrej Bendtsen made a late charge to deny Duncan Grant of New Zealand bronze.

Lambe’s race belonged to Michaela Taupe-Traer (38). The experienced Austrian took gold ahead of Leonie Pless of Germany, with Brazil’s Fabiana Beltrame making heavy weather of taking bronze despite having the favoured lane six. The lanes had been reallocated because of winds. Lambe and Ruth Walczak of Britain had disputed third with Beltrame through the middle stages of the race.

World Cup Regatta, Dorney Lake, Day Three (Irish interest)

Men

Lightweight Single Sculls – A Final: 1 Portugal (P Fraga) 6:57.02, 2 Denmark One (S Jensen) 6:59.80, 3 Denmark Two (A Bendtsen) 7:00.24; 4 New Zealand 7:00.69, 5 Germany Two 7:04.66, 6 Ireland (P O’Donovan) 7:06.69.

Women

Lightweight Single Sculls – A Final: 1 Austria (M Taupe-Traer) 7:36.62, 2 Germany (L Pless) 7:44.98, 3 Brazil (F Beltrame) 7:46.46; 4 Britain 7:47.40, 5 Ireland (C Lambe) 7:55.06, 6 Hong Kong 7:58.78.

Published in Rowing

# ROWING WORLD CUP: Paul O’Donovan continued his remarkable run at the World Cup regatta at Dorney Lake when he finished second in his Semi-Final of the lightweight single sculls this morning and qualified for tomorrow’s A Final.

The 19-year-old UCD scholarship student did not have a very fast start – that fell to Pedro Fraga of Portugal, who blasted away from the field, led all the way and won well. O’Donovan and Andrej Bendtsen of Denmark fought it out for second, with the young Irishman winning the battle before the line.

Ireland’s Katie O’Brien and Keith Connolly finished sixth in the Trunk and Arms mixed double sculls and Tom Kelly was second in the B Final of the Arms and Shoulders single sculls.

World Cup Regatta, Dorney Lake, Day Two (Irish interest)

Men

Lightweight Single Sculls – A/B Semi-Final One (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 Portugal (P Fraga) 7:21.43, 2 Ireland (P O’Donovan) 7:24.38, 3 Denmark Two (A Bendtsen) 7:25.66; 4 United States 7:36.40, 5 Denmark Three 8:06.62; Brazil did not start.

Trunk and Arms Mixed Double Sculls – A Final: 6 Ireland (K O’Brien, K Connolly) 5:18.84.

Arms and Shoulders Single Sculls – B Final (Places 7 and 8): 2 Ireland (T Kelly) 7:19.08.

Published in Rowing

# ROWING WORLD CUP: Paul O’Donovan gave Ireland lift-off at the World Cup Regatta at Dorney Lake this morning. The 19-year-old UCD student, making his World Cup debut, won his heat of the lightweight single sculls to qualify directly for the Semi-Finals. Duncan Grant of New Zealand, the red-hot favourite, took the second qualification place.

Claire Lambe will have to travel the repechage route after a third-place finish in her heat of the lightweight single sculls. With Fabiane Beltrame of Brazil winning well, direct qualification for the A Final rested on taking the second place. Ruth Walczak of Britain grabbed her chance.

Tom Kelly finished fourth in the heat of the Arms and Shoulders single sculls.

World Cup Regatta, Dorney Lake, Day One (Irish interest)

Men

Lightweight Single Sculls - Heat Two (First Two Directly to A/B Semi-Final; rest to Repechage): 1 Ireland (P O’Donovan) 7:13.89, 2 New Zealand (D Grant) 7:17.37; 3 Hong Kong 7:27.67, 4 Korea 7:28.71, 5 Brazil Two 7:30.92, 6 Japan 7:32.49.

Arms and Shoulders Single Sculls – Heat One (First Directly to Final; rest to Repechage): 4 Ireland (T Kelly) 6:31.23.

Women

Lightweight Single Sculls – Heat Two (First Two Directly to A Final; rest to Repechage): 1 Brazil (F Beltrame) 7:54.85, 2 Britain (R Walczak) 7:59.13; 3 Ireland (C Lambe) 8:07.80, 4 Paraguay 8:29.68, 5 Hong Kong 8:34.62.

Published in Rowing

# ROWING: John Keohane was the fastest man at the Ireland Trials at National Rowing Centre in Cork today. However, the Lee Valley heavyweight was just nine hundredths of a second ahead of lightweight sculler Paul O’Donovan in the Time Trial. The 19-year-old from Skibbereen was assessed to have a percentage of world’s best time in his grade of 94.8 per cent – albeit with a strong tail wind. The conditions were forecast to deteriorate as the day went on and on-the-water work was done early in the morning.

Time Trial (Selected Results)

Men - Senior/Under-23/Lightweight single sculls and pairs (1900 metres; ranked on per centage of projected world best time for each class). Selected Results.

1 P O’Donovan (lightweight) 6 mins 40.85 (94.8 per cent), 2 G O’Donovan (lwt) 6:50.10 (92.7), 3 J Keohane (heavyweight) 6:40.76 (92.4), S O’Driscoll (lwt) 6:52.87 (92.0), 5 F McQuillan-Tolan/S O’Connor (heavyweight pair) 6:25.33 (91.2), 6 D Neale (hwt) 6:46.49 (91.1), 7 L Prendergast (lwt) 7:04.10 (89.6), 8 J Mitchell/M Wray (hwt pair) 6:35.16 (89.0), 9 A Burns (lwt) 7:07.79 (88.8), 10 A Boreham (hwt) 7:04.84 (87.2).

 

Published in Rowing
# ROWING: Paul O’Donovan, who is just 18 and a lightweight oarsman on scholarship to UCD, set the fastest time in the five kilometre time trial at the National Rowing Assessment on Newry canal today. Five other lightweights recorded the next fastest times. The fastest heavyweight was Eddie Mullarkey, in seventh. Junior standards have risen appreciably and two junior 17 athletes, Conor Carmody and David O’Malley, placed 9th and 10th.
Rowing Ireland
5000m Time Trial
25th November 2012
HP Team
Nov 2012
Sex M
Values
Row Labels Time Senior % GMT Age % GMT
Paul O'Donovan (UCD) LMU23 20:07.0 82.8% 84.9%
Niall Kenny (UCCRC) LM 20:16.0 82.2% 82.2%
Mark O'Donovan (ULRC) LM 20:17.7 82.1% 82.1%
Justin Ryan (Skibbereen RC) LM 20:19.1 82.0% 82.0%
Shane O'Driscoll (CIT RC) LMU23 20:19.2 82.0% 84.1%
Gary O'Donovan (CIT RC) LMU23 20:27.5 81.5% 83.5%
Edward Mullarkey (NUIGBC) HMU23 20:38.3 79.1% 80.4%
Stephen Penny (ULRC) HM 20:41.2 79.0% 79.0%
Conor Carmody (Shannon RC) MJ17 20:44.3 78.8% 83.2%
David O Malley (St. Michaels RC) MJ17 20:49.9 78.4% 82.8%
Andy Harrington (Shandon B.C.) MJ18 20:50.1 78.4% 82.8%
Adam Boreham (Belfast BC) HMU23 20:55.2 78.1% 79.3%
Alan Prendergast (Clonmel) LMU23 20:55.9 79.6% 81.6%
John Mitchel (Lee RC) MJ18 20:56.7 78.0% 82.4%
jack smyth (St.Josephs RC) MJ17 20:56.8 78.0% 82.4%
Matthew Ryan (Skibbereen RC) MJ18 21:04.5 77.5% 81.9%
Paddy Hegarty (Skibbereen RC) MJ18 21:15.9 76.8% 81.1%
Matthew Wray (Belfast BC) HMU23 21:18.4 76.7% 77.8%
Kevin Fallon (St.Josephs RC) MJ17 21:21.2 76.5% 80.8%
Daniel Buckley (Lee RC) MJ18 21:22.8 76.4% 80.7%
James Egan (St.Josephs RC) MJ18 21:23.5 76.4% 80.6%
Gareth McKillen (RBAIRC) MJ18 21:23.7 76.3% 80.6%
Jack Casey (Shandon B.C.) MJ18 21:24.2 76.3% 80.6%
Eoghan O'Connor (Castleconnell Boat Club) LMU23 21:25.0 77.8% 79.8%
Fionnan Mcquillan-Tolan (St.Josephs RC) HMU20 21:27.8 76.1% 77.3%
Andrew Bell (UCDBC) LMU20 21:32.3 77.4% 79.3%
Aidan Kinneen (St.Josephs RC) MJ18 21:33.9 75.7% 80.0%
william yeomans (Commercial RC) MJ18 21:41.9 75.3% 79.5%
Evan Stone (Lee RC) MJ18 21:42.1 75.3% 79.5%
Rory O Sullivan (Lee RC) MJ18 21:44.2 75.1% 79.4%
Shane Mulvaney (Neptune RC) MJ17 21:53.3 74.6% 78.8%
Neil McCarthy (Cork BC) MJ18 21:55.4 74.5% 78.7%
Stephen Murphy (Cork BC) MJ17 21:58.5 74.3% 78.5%
Sam McKeown (Portadown BC) HMU20 22:06.7 73.9% 75.0%
Eoghan Whittle (Castleconnell Boat Club) MJ16 22:07.7 73.8% 78.0%
Brian Keohane (Presentation College RC) MJ17 22:07.9 73.8% 77.9%
Eoghan Fogarty (Neptune RC) MJ18 22:08.4 73.8% 77.9%
Aodhan Burns (Skibbereen RC) LMU20 22:09.1 75.2% 77.1%
Niall Crowley (Presentation College RC) MJ18 22:15.9 73.4% 77.5%
James McAfee (Bann RC) LMU23 22:18.8 74.7% 76.6%
James Blackwell (Shannon RC) MJ18 22:21.6 73.0% 77.1%
Andrew GOFF (Waterford BC) MJ16 22:26.2 72.8% 76.9%
Evan Despard (St. Michaels RC) MJ18 22:27.1 72.7% 76.8%
Colm Hennessy (Shandon B.C.) MJ16 22:32.4 72.5% 76.5%
David Keohane (Presentation College RC) MJ17 22:33.1 72.4% 76.5%
Alex Chadfield (Clonmel rc) MJ17 22:34.3 72.4% 76.4%
Luke Carroll (Shandon B.C.) MJ18 22:35.3 72.3% 76.4%
Mark Breen (Lee RC) MJ18 22:36.9 72.2% 76.3%
Ewan Murry (Portora BC) MJ17 22:48.4 71.6% 75.6%
Karl Anderson (Portora BC) MJ17 22:49.6 71.6% 75.6%
Rowing Ireland
5000m Time Trial
25th November 2012
HP Team
Nov 2012
Sean Lonergan (Clonmel rc) MJ16 22:51.1 71.5% 75.5%
Colin Finnerty (St.Josephs RC) MJ16 22:56.4 71.2% 75.2%
Jack Silke (St.Josephs RC) MJ18 22:59.0 71.1% 75.1%
Ben Robinson (RBAIRC) MJ18 23:00.3 71.0% 75.0%
Conor Horan (Neptune RC) MJ17 23:04.4 70.8% 74.8%
Michael Lawless (Colaiste Iognaid RC) MJ18 23:06.4 70.7% 74.7%
Ewan Gallagher (Athlunkard BC) MJ16 23:06.7 70.7% 74.6%
patrick munnelly (Athlone BC) MJ16 23:09.5 70.5% 74.5%
Thomas Cregan (Presentation College RC) MJ16 23:10.8 70.5% 74.4%
Charlie Murray (Cork BC) MJ17 23:16.3 70.2% 74.1%
John Higgins (Presentation College RC) MJ18 23:17.9 70.1% 74.0%
Ger McNamara (Athlunkard BC) MJ17 23:39.1 69.1% 72.9%
Barney Rix (Portora BC) MJ16 24:04.9 67.8% 71.6%
Mike O'HANLON (Waterford BC) MJ16 24:09.9 67.6% 71.4%
Kai McGlacken (Colaiste Iognaid RC) MJ16 24:11.3 67.5% 71.3%
David Neale (UCD) HM 24:23.9 66.9% 66.9%
Kevin Hogan (Colaiste Chiarain RC) MJ16 24:41.7 66.1% 69.9%
Eoghan Walls-Tuite (Colaiste Iognaid RC) MJ16 24:44.3 66.0% 69.7%
Published in Rowing

Paul O’Donovan and Holly Nixon won their single sculls semi-finals and moved confidently into the A Finals of the World Rowing Junior Championships at Dorney Lake in England today.

O’Donovan, as has been his pattern in his two races so far, did not make the decisive move until the final quarter. When he drove for the line he had to fight it out with Andrii Mykhailov of Ukraine, and the Skibbereen man won this battle.

Nixon also won her semi-final in much the same way as she had won her heat - with a procession from the start which left the others following well behind.

World Rowing Junior Championships, Dorney Lake, England (Irish interest)

Men

Junior Single Scull – Semi-Final Two: 1 Ireland (P O’Donovan) 7:04.71, 2 Ukraine (A Mykhailov) 7:05.18, 3 Switzerland (A Maillefer) 7:06.03; 4 Zimbabwe 7:06.20, 5 Azerbaijan 7:11.51, 6 Belarus 7:16.93. Afloat.ie

Women

Junior Single Scull - Semi-final One (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 Ireland (H Nixon) 7:44.21, 2 Latvia (E Gulbe) 7:49.16, 3 Italy (E Coletti) 7:51.31; 4 Japan 7:54.79, 5 Bulgaria 7:58.44, 6 Belgium 8:03.52. Afloat.ie

 

Published in Rowing

The Ireland lightweight double scull of Michael Maher and Mark O’Donovan held off Sweden to take second place in the D Final and 20th place overall at the World Cup rowing regatta in Lucerne. Hungary’s Tamas Varga and Peter Galambos were runaway winners. A huge entry of twenty-nine crews started in this event.

Sarah Dolan and Claire Lambe, the Ireland women’s lightweight double, finished fifth in their C Final, placing them 17th of the 24 crews competing.

World Cup Regatta, Lucerne – Day Two (Irish interest)

Men

Lightweight Double Scull – D Final (places 19 to 24): 1 Hungary 6:36.15, 2 Ireland 6:43.77, 3 Sweden 6:44.75.

Women

Lightweight Double Scull – C Final (Places 13 to 18): 1 Austria 7:14.01; 5 Ireland (S Dolan, C Lambe) 7:19.47

Lightweight Single Scull – Semi-Final One (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 Switzerland (P Weisshaupt) 7:56.1, 2 Ireland (S McCrohan) 7:58.65, 3 Belgium (J Hammond) 8:03.22; 4 Japan 8:09.31, 5 Canada 8:09.80, 6 Hong Kong 8:14.50.

 

Published in Rowing
Page 10 of 10

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