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Displaying items by tag: O'Donovans

#Rowing: Ireland’s Paul O’Donovan and Gary O’Donovan took an excellent second place behind Olympic champions France to secure their place in the A Final of the lightweight double sculls at the European Rowing Championships in Racice today. France were outstanding throughout the 2,000 metres and won by a length. Ireland were sixth at 500 metres, but began to move up the field in the second quarter. They moved through Greece and Germany before the end and saw off a challenge by the Germans coming up to the line – by eight hundredths of a second.

Italy won the second semi-final from Britain and Poland – but in a much slower time.

European Rowing Championships, Day Two (Selected Results; Irish interest)

Men

Lightweight Double Sculls – Semi-Final One: 1 France (P Houin, J Azou) 6:35.68, 2 Ireland (G O’Donovan, P O’Donovan) 6:38.09, 3 Germany (L Schaefer, J Osborne) 6:38.17; 4 Czech Republic 6:41.86, 5 Greece 6:49.59, 6 Spain 7:02.70.

Semi-Fnal Two: 1 Italy 6:43.71, 2 Britain (P Chambers, W Fletcher) 6:45.29, 3 Poland 6:46.49.

Women

Lightweight Single Sculls – Semi-Final One: Switzerland (P Merz) 7:39.48, 2 Ireland (D Walsh) 7:42.53, 3 Italy (C Guerra) 7:43.99.

Semi-Final Two:

1 Sweden (E Fred) 7:36.74, 2 Russia (A Lebedeva) 7:37.90, 3 Germany (L Pieper) 7:42.46.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: The Ireland lightweight double of Paul and Gary O’Donovan finished second in their heat at the European Rowing Championships in Racice in the Czech Republic today. Only the winner of each of the four heats qualified directly for the A/B semi-finals. Russia dominated early on, but the second half of the race belonged to Poland. As Russia faded, they opened a lead of over three seconds over Ireland, and despite a charge by the men in green they never looked other than winners.

France, Germany and Italy won their heats well.

European Championships, Racice, Czech Republic, Day One (Selected Results; Irish interest)

Men

Lightweight Double Sculls – Heats (Winner to A/B Semi-Finals; rest to Repechages) – Heat One: 1 France (P Houin, J Azou) 6:26.97. Heat Two: Germany (L Schaefer, J Osborne) 6:37.53.

Heat Three: 1 Poland 6:25.93, 2 Ireland (G O’Donovan, P O’Donovan) 6:32.15, 3 Russia 6:36.38, 4 Switzerland 6:40.60, 5 Austria. Heat Four: 1 Italy 6:30.77.

Women

Lightweight Single Sculls – Heat One (First Three to Semi-Finals; rest to Repechage): 1 Ireland (D Walsh) 7:44.85, 2 Denmark (A Runge Holmegaard) 7:49.49, 3 Poland (J Dorociak) 7:49.90; 4 Czech Republic 8:05.07, 5 Portugal 8:08.19. Heat Two: 1 Switzerland 7:42.510. Heat Three: 1 Sweden 7:39.52.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Paul and Gary O’Donovan have another set of medals to add to their 2016 collection. Sculling with John Collins and Jonny Walton of Leander (the British Olympic double) they had the fastest raw time in the Directors’ Challenge Men’s Quads at the Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston. While the result was given as a win for “Fruit Loops”, a Masters crew which was given a handicap, the Irish/British crew were presented with the medals.   

 In 2016 Gary and Paul won gold at the European Championships, silver at the World Cup Regatta in Italy, silver at the Olympic Games, and took winners’ medals at the Irish Open as a double. Paul also won gold at the World Championships as a lightweight single sculler and won the Irish Open single sculls.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Sanita Puspure was part of the top women’s crew at the Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston. The Old Collegians rower took the honours in the Women’s Championship Eights, with a crew of the top scullers in the world, stroked by American Genevra Stone.

 Paul and Gary O’Donovan finished second in their final race, the Directors’ Challenge Men’s Quads. The Skibbereen men teamed up with John Collins and Jonathan Walton of Leander to form a crew which they called Crossing the Pond.

Head of the Charles River, Boston (Irish interest; selected results)

Saturday

Men

Championship Doubles: 8 P O’Donovan, G O’Donovan 17 min 39.742 seconds.

Women

Championships Doubles: 1 K Brennan, E Twigg 18:08.7, 2 M Lobnig, S Puspure 18:20.219.

Sunday (Provisional)

Men

Directors’ Challenge Quads: 2 Crossing the Pond (G O’Donovan, J Walton, J Collins, G O’Donovan) 16:30.304.

Women

Championship Eights: 1 Cambridge (S Puspure, M Knapkova, M Lobnig, J Gmelin, C Zeeman, E Twigg, K Brennan, G Stone; cox: E Driscoll) 16:30.368.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: The Olympic rowing programme for today, Sunday, has been postponed. The strong crosswinds disrupted a number of races on Saturday and left the Serbian men's pair in the water after a capsize. Ireland single sculler Sanita Puspure had complained about the conditions, saying the boats would not be put out to train in such difficult waters. Two Ireland boats, the women’s lightweight double of Sinead Lynch and Claire Lambe and the men’s lightweight double of Paul and Gary O’Donovan were due to compete in their first race today, but must now wait.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Ireland qualified directly for their second semi-final of the morning at the World Cup in Lucerne as Paul and Gary O’Donovan took second in their heat of the lightweight double sculls. South Africa, the crew with the world’s best time, led all the way and won. Ireland took over in second by half way and finished under a second behind the South Africans. They held off a push by Switzerland in the final quarter. The Swiss also qualified.  

World Cup Regatta, Lucerne, Switzerland (Irish interest, selected results)

Men

Lightweight Double Sculls – Heats (Three to A/B Semi-finals; rest to Repechage) – Heat One: 1 South Africa 6:21.98, 2 Ireland (G O’Donovan, P O’Donovan) 6:22.89, 3 Switzerland One 6:31.36; 4 Japan One 6:38.28, 5 Angola 6:55.06. Heat Two: 1 France One 6:20.94, 2 Poland One 6:25.55, 3 Brazil 6:35.48. Heat Three: 1 Norway 6:21.26, 2 United States 6:23.33, 3 Britain 6:37.22.  

Women

Lightweight Double Sculls – Heats (Two to A/B Semi-Finals; rest to Repechage) – Heat One: 1 South Africa 6:57.90, 2 China Two 7:01.11. Heat Two: 1 Canada 6:56.56, 2 China One 6:57.98.

Heat Three: 1 New Zealand 7:00.16, 2 Ireland (C Lambe, S Jennings) 7:01.90; 3 Germany One 7:05.79, 4 Russia One 7:06.01, 5 Chile One.

 

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Single sculler Sanita Puspure and the men’s lightweight double scull won their semi-finals to bring Ireland’s A Final tally to four at the European Rowing Championships in Brandenburg in Germany. The Ireland women’s lightweight double had to settle for a B Final place.

 Paul O’Donovan and Gary O’Donovan produced an excellent finishing sprint to win their semi-final. Germany had led them down the course but the Cork brothers outpaced them in the dash to the line.  

 Puspure won a really good race, Nataliya Dovgodko of the Ukraine and and Lina Saltyte of Lithuania looked impressive in the first half in the tough, cross-headwind conditions, with Puspure also in the top three. Mirka Knapkova moved from fourth in the final seven hundred metres to dispute the lead, but Puspure finished strongly and kept her in second. Saltyte took third.  

 Sinéad Jennings and Claire Lambe finished fifth in their semi-final. Poland were impressive winners, with Denmark holding second for much of the race and Ireland disputing third with Romania. Britain pushed into the top four in the second half, but could not secure a top-three place. Romania pushed into second, ahead of Denmark. Britain finished fourth, one place ahead of Jennings and Lambe.

European Championships, Brandenburg, Germany – Day Two (Selected results, Irish interest)

Men

Lightweight Pair – Repechage (First Four to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 Denmark 7:26.63, 2 Ireland (M O’Donovan, S O’Driscoll) 7:27.99, 3 Germany 7:29.0, 4 Portugal 7:29.70.

Lightweight Double Sculls – Semi-Final One (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 Ireland (G O’Donovan, P O’Donovan) 7:00.52, 2 Germany 7:00.7, 3 Poland 7:08.37.

Women

Lightweight Double Sculls – Semi-Final Two (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 Poland 7:57.60, 2 Romania 8:01.47, 3 Denmark 8:03.45; 5 Ireland (C Lambe, S Jennings) 8:12.30

Single Sculls – Semi-Final One (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 Ireland (S Puspure) 8:44.67, 2 Czech Republic (M Knapkova) 8:45.61, 3 Lithuania (L Saltyte) 8:47.70.

Lightweight Single Sculls – Repechage (First Two to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 Ireland (D Walsh)  8:39.41, 2 Britain (I Walsh) 8:41.08.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Gary and Paul O’Donovan won their heat of the lightweight double sculls at the European Championships in Brandenburg in Germany. The Czech Republic showed well early on, but by halfway the brothers from Skibbereen had a small lead, which they extended from there on. As the Czechs faded, Belgium strengthened, and they took second. Switzerland edged out the Czechs for the third direct qualification place.

 Sinéad Jennings and Claire Lambe took second in their heat of the lightweight double to qualify for the semi-finals. With Ukraine stuck in  fourth place, the Netherlands, Ireland and Germany were set for the semi-final places, but fought it out before finishing in that order.  

 Denise Walsh finished fifth in her heat of the lightweight single sculls and must compete in a repechage. In the men’s lightweight pair, the world champions, Sam Scrimgeour and Joel Cassells of Britain, won their heat and took the A Final place. The Ireland crew of Mark O’Donovan and Shane O’Driscoll held second right down the course and sprinted to the line to hold off a challenge by Poland.  

European Championships, Brandenburg, Germany – Day One (Selected results, Irish interest)

Men

Lightweight Pair – Heat One (Winner to A Final; rest to repechage): 1 Britain (S Scrimgeour, J Cassells) 6:59.29; 2 Ireland (M O’Donovan, S O’Driscoll) 7:06.20.

Lightweight Double Sculls – Heat Two (First three to A/B Semi-Finals; rest to repechage): 1 Ireland (G O’Donovan, P O’Donovan) 6:46.75, 2 Belgium 6:49.46, 3 Switzerland 6:51.12.

Women

Quadruple Sculls – Heat One (Winner to A Final; rest to repechage): 3 Britain (3: H Nixon) 6:48.20.

Single Sculls – Heat One (First three to A/B Semi-Finals; rest to repechage): 1 Ireland (S Puspure) 8:09.55, 2 Latvia (E Gulbe) 8:13.73, 3 Britain (M Hodgkins-Byrne) 8:16.21.

Lightweight Double Sculls – Heat Three (First three to A/B Semi-Finals; rest to repechage): 1 Netherlands 7:29.38, 2 Ireland (C Lambe, S Jennings) 7:34.04, 3 Germany 7:38.89.

Lightweight Single Sculls – Heat One (First Two to A Final; rest to repechage): 1 Denmark 8:23.99, 2 Poland 8:25.82: 5 Ireland (D Walsh) 8:35.99.  

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Gary and Paul O’Donovan confidently took their place in the A Final of the lightweight double sculls at the World Cup regatta in Varese in Italy. The brothers from Skibbereen matched their winning performance in Friday’s heat, taking over the lead in the middle of the race and having over a second to spare over the second-placed Netherlands crew at the finish.

World Cup Regatta, Varese – Day Two (Selected Results, Irish interest)

Men

Lightweight Four – C Final (places 13 to 16): 1 Canada One 6:09.73, 2 Serbia 6:11.21, 3 Austria 6:15.85, 4 Ireland (L Seaman, M O’Donovan, L Keane, S O’Driscoll) 6:16.00.

Lightweight Double Sculls – A/B Semi-Finals (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final) – Semi-Final One: 1 Ireland (P O’Donovan, G O’Donovan) 6:19.57, 2 Netherlands One 6:20.69, 3 Belgium One 6:20.85; 4 Poland One 6:22.21, 5 Switzerland One 6:24.99, 6 Portugal One 6:51.45.

Women

Pair – C Final (places 13 to 16): 1 Norway One 7:22.74, 2 Ukraine 7:23.16, 3 Ireland (L Kennedy, B O’Brien) 7:33.07.  

Single Sculls – A/B Semi-Finals (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final) – Semi-Final One: 1 Ireland (S Puspure) 7:26.60, 2 Belarus Two (T Kukhta) 7:27.86, 3 Canada (C Zeeman) 7:29.01; 4 Ukraine 7:30.70, 5 Sweden 7:37.22, 6 Latvia 7:37.48. Semi-Final Two: 1 Belarus 7:29.10, 2 Switzerland 7:29.93, 3 China 7:31.28.

Lightweight Double Sculls – C Final (places 13 to 17): 1 Ireland (C Lambe, S Jennings) 7:17.24, 2 Italy Three 7:26.29, 3 Chile 7:29.71.  

Lightweight Single Sculls – Repechage (First Two to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 Poland Two 7:49.90, 2 Switzerland One 7:51.76; 5 Ireland Two (S McCrohan) 8:04.69, 6 Ireland One (D Walsh) 8:08.81

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Ireland had its second heat win at the World Cup Regatta in Varese, as the lightweight double of Paul O’Donovan and Gary O’Donovan gave an excellent display. They took over the lead in the second half of the race and beat Britain into second place, with both crews qualifying for semi-finals.  

 Sinéad Jennings and Claire Lambe finished third in their heat, missing direct qualifcation for the semi-finals by just one spot. The Ireland lightweight double were very close to leaders Switzerland down the course, but in the drive for the line Canada took the second qualification place, with Ireland .55 of a second behind.    

World Cup Regatta, Varese (Selected Results, Irish interest)

Men

Lightweight Double Sculls – Heat Three (First Two to A/B Semi-Final; rest to Repechages): 1 Ireland (P O’Donovan, G O’Donovan) 6:27.07, 2 Britain 6:33.38; 3 Netherlands Two 6:48.24.  

Women

Pair – Heat One (First Two to A/B Semi-Final; rest to Repechages): 1 Germany 7:23.08, 2 Russia One 7:24.46; 5 Ireland (L Kennedy, B O’Brien) 7:46.38.

Lightweight Double Sculls – Heat Two (First Two to A/B Semi-Final; rest to Repechages): 1 Switzerland 7:03.98, 2 Canada 7:04.45; 3 Ireland (C Lambe, S Jennings) 7:05.0.

Single Sculls – Heat One (Winner to A/B Semi-Finals; rest to Repechages): 1 Ireland (S Puspure) 7:34.32; 2 Czech Republic (M Knapkova) 7:36.13.  

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