#RNLI - Arranmore RNLI saved two fishermen on Wednesday afternoon (8 April) after their 10m boat capsized off the Donegal coast.

A member of the public who was watching the fishing vessel from the shoreline raised the alarm at 2.50pm after he saw the boat capsize two miles south of Arranmore.

Arranmore RNLI’s boarding boat, which was already at sea with coxswain Anton Kavanagh and mechanic Philip McCauley on board, made its way to the scene.

Weather conditions at the time were described as blowing a gentle Force 2 to 3 wind but there was a heavy ground swell of three to four metres.

During their short passage, the volunteer lifeboat crew spotted and followed a track of fuel, and once on scene observed the wreckage of the stricken vessel. They then observed the two fishermen in the water approximately 300 yards from where the boat had capsized.

Both men were very cold when they were pulled from the sea and brought onboard Arranmore RNLI’s boat.

They were brought to Aphort Harbour, where they were made comfortable before being airlifted by the Irish Coast Guard’s Rescue 118 helicopter from Sligo and transferred to Letterkenny General Hospital.



Speaking following the callout, Anton Kavanagh said: "Both men are very lucky to be alive today and full credit must go to the member of the public who saw the boat capsize and raised the alarm, because the fishermen were not due back to shore for a couple of hours.

"We were delighted to be able to help and are glad that both men are safe and well."

#WestCork - A West Cork TD has welcomed the recent announcement of the near €18 million Fishery Harbour and Coastal Infrastructure Capital Programme.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the package announced last month by Marine Minister Simon Coveney is primarily aimed at safety, maintenance and development works at Ireland's six Fishery Harbour Centres.

Funded alongside electrical upgrading and more at Castletownbere Fishery Harbour Centre (€890,000) will be storm damage repairs works and improvements infrastructure at Cape Clear's North Harbour at a cost of nearly €2 million.

The funding allocation for these West Cork harbour sites was welcomed by local Fine Gael deputy Noel Harrington, who told the West Cork Times that the works at Cape Clear "will enhance the safety for those living on the island and the thousands who visit there each year."

Moreover, the Castletownbere works are "welcome and necessary in the busy port," he said, adding that he was confident further funding via Cork County Council would see greater investment in the West Cork coastal region.

#Offshore - They say you should never leave port on a Friday – and following his rescue after more than two months lost at sea, American sailor Louis Jordan will surely be ruing that decision!

As TheJournal.ie reports, the 36-year-old beat the odds when he was picked up by a container ship some 200 miles off the coast of North Carolina yesterday (Thursday 2 April).

It brought an end to a 66-day ordeal for Jordan, who had departed Bucksport in South Carolina on Friday 23 January on a fishing trip, but ran into trouble when rough weather disabled both his boat and his communications gear.

While his family prepared for the worst, Jordan survived in the open sea by drinking whatever rainwater he could collect and fish he could catch. TheJournal.ie has more on this remarkable story HERE.

Elsewhere, the people of Sakhalin on Russia's Pacific coast have been devastated by the loss of at least 56 sailors after the sinking of a Russian trawler in the Sea of Okhotsk.

According to the Guardian, questions have been raised about whether the owner and international crew of the Dalny Vostok, based at Russia's largest island, had been cutting corners in their hunt for a big catch.

#SupertrawlerAppeal - The Irish Times reports that the head of the company that owns the world's largest trawler said on Sunday that his board is considering appealing a €105,000 fine imposed by an Irish court.

Diederik Parlevliet, managing director of Dutch firm Parlevliet and Van der Plas which owns super-trawler Annelies Ilena, complained the skipper was ordered to pay "a vastly unproportionate" sum for a €30 breach of the law.

That's what he claimed the amount of illegal fish was worth on the trawler, which is a half-metre longer than pitch in Croke Park.

The Irish Navy and Sea Fisheries Protection officers boarded the 144.6-metre Annelies Ilena off Tory Island in November 2013. For more on this story, click HERE

In addition to reading more by Lorna Siggins of The Irish Times (yesterday) who reflected on the arrest of the supertrawler, the former Irish owned 'Altantic Dawn' and the background to the current test case for EU fishery Law.

#SupertrawlerArrest - Lorna Siggins of The Irish Times reflects on the 922nd boarding by a Naval Service fishery patrol in 2013 which could have been a routine affair, but for the vessel's size and history.

The 144-metre Dutch-registered Annelies Ilena is seven times the tonnage of the patrol ship, LÉ Roisín (P51) – and multiple times that of the rigid inflatable (RIB) deployed by Lieut Cdr Terry Ward to inspect it.

The ship, formerly the Irish-registered Atlantic Dawn, is one of the world's biggest fishing vessels, the largest super trawler and the biggest detention by the Naval Service to date.

It was among a fleet of Dutch vessels working some 100 nautical miles northwest of Tory Island when approached by a joint Naval Service/Sea Fisheries Protection Agency (SFPA) patrol on November 22nd, 2013.

The team intended to board several in the fleet in the knowledge that such ships flying other EU flags were notoriously hard to inspect. If caught, it could also be a test case for EU fishery law.

"Vessels with the ability to catch fish on an industrial scale in waters under our jurisdiction, but which almost never land here, pose particular challenges to ensure regulatory compliance," SFPA chair Susan Steele said at the time.

Had it been 20 miles north, it would have been in Scottish waters.

It was detained and escorted to Killybegs, Co Donegal, on suspicion of "high grading", a practice initiated, ironically, in response to stricter EU quota regulations. It involves retaining the most valuable fish and throwing smaller, less valuable, fish which are still over the minimum size back into sea.

For supertrawlers, it can make the difference of several hundred thousand euro per trip.

For much more on this story, click here.

#TitBonhomme - RTÉ News reports that the families of two Egyptian fishermen who died in the Tit Bonhomme tragedy in West Cork three years ago last week settled their civil actions in the High Court.

Saled Mohamed Ibrahim Aly Eldin and Attia Shabaan were two of four Egyptian fishermen on the Union Hall fishing trawler that sank after running aground in rough seas near Adam's Rock at Glandore Harbour on 15 January 2012.

The incident took the lives of skipper Michael Hayes and fellow crew Kevin Kershaw, whose family settled an action in early 2013, and Wael Mohamed, whose family settled their own High Court action earlier this month.

The latter's brother Abdelbaky Mohamed was the only survivor, and gave testimony at the inquest into the incident in the summer of 2013, which returned verdicts of accidental death. RTÉ News has more on the story HERE.

Hayes' widow Caitlin Ní Aodha has since returned to the fishing industry and spoke to our own Tom McSweeney for his This Island Nation show in October last year.

#Fishing - Inland Fisheries Ireland is inviting applications for commercial fishing licences for salmon (both draft net and snap net) for 2015.

Application forms are available from local IFI offices in Macroom, Limerick, Galway, Ballina and Ballyshannon as listed HERE.

The closing date for receipt of completed applications to the relevant IFI office is 5pm on Monday 23 March. None will be accepted after this date.

#fishing – The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Simon Coveney TD, announced today the award of €2.7 million in grant-aid to 18 seafood processing companies under the 2015 Seafood Processing Business Investment Scheme. Taken in conjunction with private sector investment, the total investment will be almost €9 million in 2015. The supported projects are projected to deliver 145 Jobs and €41 million in additional sales by 2017. The grants are co-funded by the Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine and the European Fisheries Fund under the Seafood Development Programme.

Minister Coveney, in stressing the value of this grant-aid package to the Seafood Processing industry said, "this investment of almost €9 million in 2015 will enable our innovative seafood processers to continue their strong growth trend over recent years that will see the sector continuing to grow sales internationally and grow employment in our coastal communities. It will put the required technology, infrastructure and standards in place to allow these businesses develop added value seafood products that are in great demand on the global market."

The Minister concluded "the Irish seafood processing industry generally, in line with Government policy under the Food Harvest 2020 plan, has strong plans to significantly grow its business further in the years ahead. I believe we can look forward with confidence to seeing the seafood processing sector continuing to be an integral part of Government's policy to grow our indigenous seafood industry".

#Angling - Three men were convicted of illegal fishing in Connemara in two separate cases at a sitting of Clifden District Court last Thursday (26 February).

In the first case, Judge Mary Fahy heard that Michael Coyne, of Leenane in Co Galway, was apprehended by fishery officers on 31 July 2014 in possession of two salmon.

The court heard that Fishery Officers on patrol in the Aasleagh area of Killary Harbour at night heard splashing in the water, and using a thermal imaging camera observed a man using a net. The officers went immediately to the area and apprehended Coyne in possession of salmon.

The judge was told that Coyne immediately admitted to illegal fishing. The court also heard that he was co-operative, and showed the officers where he had hidden three nets.

Judge Fahy convicted Coyne on two charges of illegal possession or a net, and the illegal use of a fixed engine, and fined him €600 with €200 costs.

On the same day, the court heard a case against Pat King and John Coneys, both with addresses in Ballyconneely, Co Galway.

Evidence was heard that on 27 July 2014, Assistant Inspector Sean Coady of Inland Fisheries Ireland was on patrol in the Ballyconneely area when he observed two men in a boat acting suspiciously.

He approached the men when they returned to shore, and found them in possession of a bag with a salmon in it.

Judge Fahy heard that the men immediately took responsibility, and were fully co-operative. Both men were convicted on one charge of the possession of an unlawfully caught salmon, and were fined €200 each plus €100 each for possession of the salmon. Costs of €250 each were also awarded against the men.

At the same sitting of Clifden District Court, Judge Fahy convicted a fish farm company for damage caused to a river bed in Co Galway.

Mannin Bay Salmon Company was before the court arising from an incident which occurred in July 2014, when fisheries Officers found the company had constructed a dam across the Bunowen River, which flows into Killary Harbour, in order to pump freshwater to a fish farm cage located offshore.

Significant damage was caused to the bed of the river, which is a spawning and nursery habitat for salmonids, and the dam was impeding the passage of fish.

The company pleaded guilty to the charge, and solicitor for the defence, Thomas Mannion, pleaded that the company had experienced an emergency situation whereby an outbreak of Amoebic Gill Disease threatened the stock of fish on the fish farm.

Amoebic Gill Disease can be treated by bathing fish in freshwater for a number of hours.

The defence acknowledged that the company knew it should not have dammed the river, but did so in order to avoid significant financial losses.

Convicting the company under Section 173 of the Fisheries Act 1959, Judge Fahy commented that protection of fish habitat was very important, but acknowledged that the company had been co-operative and had removed the dam and rectified the situation immediately once fisheries officers became aware of it. She fined the company €500 with €500 costs.

#Angling - At a sitting of Ballina Circuit Court on Thursday 19 February, Judge Petria McDonnell affirmed convictions against Gerry Bourke of Pollathomas, Ballina, Co Mayo.

In September 2014, Bourke had been convicted at Belmullet District Court for offences relating to an illegal netting operation on the Owenmore River near Bangor Erris in August 2013, and had appealed his conviction to the Circuit Court.

It should be noted that the commercial salmon draft net estuarine fishery on the Owenmore River was closed in 2014 because of declining salmon runs, and angling was restricted to strictly catch and release. This restriction remains unchanged for 2015.

Having heard the case in full, Judge Petria McDonnell affirmed the fines imposed in the District Court. She directed that the sum of €400 be paid in respect of each count, amounting to a total of €800, and also imposed total costs of €1,500, giving Bourke 18 months to pay.

In her concluding remarks, Judge McDonnell stated that fishing offences may be regarded as trivial by some, but pointed out that such offences were, in effect, theft and had to be taken seriously.

She commented further that Bourke’s approach to the case had cost a significant sum of money.

Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) has a confidential hotline number to enable members of the general public to report incidents of illegal fishing, as well as water pollution and invasive species, at 1890 34 74 24 or 1890 FISH 24.