Fisherman say No to Lisbon, Cork Harbour

by John Jefferies - Workers Party (Cobh) Mon Jun 09, 2008 16:43

Here's some pics of the fishing boats taken from Cobh in the Lower Habour of Cork this morning.

Passing the Spit Bank light

Opposite Cobh town

Off the Pier Head, Cobh

by fished out Mon Jun 09, 2008 21:28

irish waters are fished out through greed. The fishing industry is fucked. Now we're fucking up the waters off india and africa, depriving third world starving people of basic proteins. Fuck fishermen. They just keep going until there's nothing left.

and you lot would switch and vote yes in a heartbeat , selling the rest of us out if you got your blackmail concessions. Talk about principles

http://www.village.ie/Ireland/Politics/Donegal_fisherma...ania/

interesting to see dirty bertie's hands all over this.

http://www.theecologist.org/pages/archive_detail.asp?co...d=370

by learn to like eating jellyfish Tue Jun 10, 2008 02:39

Overfishing has totally fucked up the sea
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6108414.stm

by John Jefferies Tue Jun 10, 2008 09:36

There's a hell of a diference between a small boat operating out of Castletownbere or Clogherhead and the Atlantic Dawn which is more like an entire country's fishing fleet than one ship. It is responsible for cleaning out the seas of the coast of Africa and in no way compares with the overwhelming majority of fishing boats, especially in this country. Ships like the Atlantic Dawn should be banned, scrapped and destroyed.

I support the Irish fishermen 100%. Most of them are subsistence level. They had a few good years in the past but have never been supported by the EU or the Irish government like the farmers enjoyed in the past. I watched the fleet leaving Cobh this morning after their protests in Cork Harbour and at the airport last night, many of the boats were 50 years old or more. Most were less than 60 feet long and many were in the 30-45ft range.

There are enough fish in the sea off the Irish coast for the Irish fleet, but not for the open season which the rest of the EU and non-EU countries are cleaning out, or the likes of the Atlantic Dawn.

by Stuart Tue Jun 10, 2008 13:00

About 60% of all European fish is macerated into an unrecognizable pulp and industrially separated into constituent minerals, oils and proteins to be reconstructed into agri-business inputs, animal feeds, baking oils (for biscuits) and "fish" fingers / nuggets / steaks. McHugh's Atlantic Dawn is the largest fishing vessel in the world, 145 metres long and holding up to 7,000 tonnes of ocean produce, employing 60 crew to replace what many thousand Irish crew do. It temporarily held about 10% of Ireland's entire fishing quota.

Meanwhile we the consumer happily pay 40 euro per kilo in the supermarket for the macerated scum they call "fish" fingers and refuse to pay 10 or 20 euro per kilo for freshly caught local whole fish.

by Miriam Tue Jun 10, 2008 13:10

So a vital resource is reduced to a fraction of its food worth. But it's the same with many other foods isn/t it? You can see it in the supermarkets. A tiny part of the space is devoted to fresh and nutritious food - the most important stuff. Most of the aisles are filled with crappy food products - frozen, blasted and otherwise assaulted and packaged so not only is the food lousy but it creates appalling environmental problems at every step along the way - to say nothing of the health problems it causes etc etc etc. Crazy world.

by John Jefferies Tue Jun 10, 2008 15:38

I counted 62 fishing boats participating in today's blockade of Cork Harbour.

Fishing boats off Roches Point lighthouse, Co. Cork

Stretched across the harbour mouth

Boats of all sizes took part

by Sean Tue Jun 10, 2008 19:14

The fishermen will be holding a protest tomorrow morning at 10.00am outside the offices of the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority in Clonakilty, Co. Cork and are looking for support. The SFPA is located in the West Cork Technology Park, about one mile from Clonakilty town.

The SFPA was established by the government in 2007 and is is "responsible for the implementation and enforcement of National and EU Regulations on Sea Fisheries Protection and Seafood Safety", to quote their own website.

by sian Tue Jun 10, 2008 22:48

The SFPA are the 'independent' (ie government shirks all responsibilty) agency charged with putting Irish fishermen out of work and making sure other countries can take exactly what they like unhindered from Irish waters.
Only fish importing island in the world.

by sian Tue Jun 10, 2008 22:51

The SFPA is the government agency charged with getting rid of Irish fishermen so that our EU neighbours can fish unhindered. We can import our fish from Norway and Iceland instead.

by William Wall Wed Jun 11, 2008 11:45

Fishing at the level operating in Irish ports (excluding super trawlers, which anyway are major industrial players on a global level) is not cleaning out our seas. Small trawlers, like small farms, are viable in the long run. The problem is with industrial-level fishing and farming. It's more wasteful and less productive, and the industrial processes make the food less useful by removing essential nutrients and adding unnecessary ingredients like fat. The fact is, anyway, that fishing families are at breaking point and we should support them. A few hours in a sea going trawler will convince you that these people aren't the Michael O'Learys of the ocean. And if you have wandered around one of our fishing ports over the last few years you will see posters calling for resistance, for anti-government protests and a vote against Lisbon. Support the protests.

by Ray - Cork WSM (pers. cap.) Wed Jun 11, 2008 19:43

I'll let the fishermen's own messages speak for themselves.

by john Thu Jun 26, 2008 15:21 donegal

I see by Stuart's comments about industrial fishing is well out of date, is he not aware that the vessel was sold to the Dutch for the reason that the Irish government would not back the vessel, people like him should know what they are talking about as it was people like him that gave the vessel the bad name she got, as an Irish vessel she only tried to compete with the other European countries to secure quota for Ireland worldwide, do we give everything to the Dutch and the Spanish, the Atlantic Dawn company has rsw vessels on route to Africa now even at the high fuel costs to avail of Ireland's right to the EU quota there if this is not done now then we lose the quota to other EU countries again, is Stuart not aware that only for the Atlantic Dawn and THE VERONICA IRELAND WOULD NOT HAVE HALF THE QUOTA WE NOW HAVE IN IRELAND FOR HORSE MACKEREL, so it annoys me when people come on line mouthing off just to be heard but don't really understand what the hell they are on about.

by John Jefferies Thu Jun 26, 2008 21:18

I received a phone call from someone who assumed the above post was from me because of my previous posts and photos here. It wasn't. I personally think that ships like the Atlantic Dawn should be banned and that the future of fishing lies in small to medium boats. It was the likes of the Atlantic Dawn and the factory ships that largely destroyed our fish stocks. We also need a larger exclusive Irish zone and closed zones around spawning grounds.

by Maggie Mon Sep 08, 2008 08:38

Above all the fishermen of CORK must stick together ,be very aware of the MAYO example where the fishermen were divided,then sold out for a pittance to SHELL/STATOIL-TOPAZ,believing that the stoppage would only be temporary.How many fish will return to SHELL polluted waters?.Thank God for people like PAT ODONNELL and the other brave fishermen who are keeping vigil over their fishing grounds ,protecting their livelihood and those whose jobs depend on them. I salute their bravery.