Can the Irish fishing industry survive and thrive, or are we witnessing its slow demise?
These and other questions are posed in a new four-part documentary series, Tarrac na Farraige, which documents the current state of the industry after Brexit and other challenges through the eyes of a number of skippers in communities right around the Irish coast.
Made by Red Shoe Productions in co-operation with The Skipper magazine, the bilingual series films a number of fishermen in both large and small boats at sea.
Among those co-operating with producer and director Maggie Breathnach were the O’Flaherty family, the Murphy family, MacDara and Seamus Breathnach, Enda Dirrane, John O’Donnell, Fionn Ó Curraoin and many more.
Director of photography Séamus Hayes filmed in all weathers and seasons, earning the trust of fishermen who recognised that he has been at sea himself and he knows his way around a deck.
Maggie Breathnach, a native of An Rinn, beside the fishing port of Ceann Heilbhic, said that having grown up by the sea, her aim was to “honour the fishermen and fishing communities she grew up with”, and to “capture the last real hunter-gatherers of a generation”.
Tarrac na Farraige a Red Shoe Production for RTÉ, starts on Thursday May 8th on RTÉ 1 television at 7 pm.
