#FISHERY DETENTION – The Naval Service coastal patrol vessel (CPV) L.É. Ciara detained an Irish registered fishing vessel some 30 nautical miles south of Ballycotton Co. Cork. The detention which took place around midnight on Wednesday was for an alleged breach of technical fishing regulations.

The trawler was escorted by the L.É. Ciara (P42) to Cobh where it arrived on the Thursday and was handed over to the Gardaí.

In late July the L.É. Aisling (P23) detained an Irish registered vessel in waters approximately 125 nautical miles off Loop Head, Co. Clare. To date the Naval Service have carried out 946 boardings, issued 38 warnings and detained 12 vessels so far in 2012.

Less then a month ago the Naval Service detained a Northern Irish registered fishing vessel the Lynn Marie seven miles east off Bray Head. Onboard was a crew of 4 UK nationals who were taken into custody to the Gardai after the trawler was escorted by the CPV L.E. Orla to Dun Laoghaire Harbour. To read more about this detention click here.

Ironically the L.E. Orla was a former Royal Naval vessel, HMS Swift (P241) which was deployed on her first assignment to the Hong Kong Patrol Squadron for a four-year period. In 1988 Margaret Thatcher's Conservative Party Government disposed HMS Swift and HMS Swallow (P242) to the Irish Naval Service. The pair were built by Hall Russell Shipyard of Aberdeen as part of an eight 'Peacock' class coastal patrol vessel (CPV).

The 'Peacock' pair were commissioned into the Naval Service and renamed L.E. Orla (P41) and L.E. Ciara (P42) in a ceremony attended by An Taoiseach Charles J. Haughey at the Naval Base in Haulbowline, Cork Harbour.

This weeks' detention is the second conducted by the Naval Service in 2011. Last year the Naval Service carried out 1,666 vessel boardings which resulted in 70 warnings and eight detentions.