It has been eight weeks since Government Minister Martin Heydon and Minister of State Timmy Dooley at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, and Minister of State Christopher O’Sullivan at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, announced the incoming ban on trawlers over 18m within the 6 nautical miles (and baselines) zone. It may seem like very little has been happening in the interim, but there has been plenty going on behind the scenes. This post offers a brief summary of where we are.
A good start, but more to do
At the time, as a group representing the coastal waters between Kinsale and Mizen head in West Cork, Save our Sprat West Cork broadly welcomed the ban as a positive start, with several caveats and concerns. At the start of August we submitted a comprehensive list of queries through Minister O’Sullivan’s Clonakilty office, about both how the announced measures would be implemented, and what additional measures the Government proposed to take to address its shortfalls.
It has been over six weeks now since we submitted those questions, and we are still waiting for an official response. However, we have received several communications from Minister O’Sullivan in the meantime, assuring us that both he and his colleagues at DAFM are taking our questions seriously, emphasising that the delay is because they are working to provide us with detailed answers, rather than boilerplate responses with little substance.
The key areas covered by those questions were:
- How the >18m ban will be implemented, monitored and regulated, and how the Government plans to respond if/when the industry challenges the measures in the High Court
- What the Government proposes to do to prevent excessive fishing of Sprat by the still unrestricted/unregulated smaller vessels (this is less of an issue in this part of West Cork, where almost all the fishing pressure on Sprat comes from pair trawling by >18m vessels)
- Whether the Government has commissioned the scientific assessment of Sprat populations necessary to assess stock viability and quotas to support a sustainable fishery.
The consensus of the group is that we will wait a little longer to see those detailed responses, although our patience is finite and we will push for those answers soon.
Why does our position differ from that of other groups?
Some have denounced the government measures as doing nothing to help Sprat, and nothing for marine conservation. They declare that the ban on >18m vessels simply redistributes fishing rights to smaller inshore vessels, and continue to call for a moratorium on all sprat fishing.
Our position differs for several reasons:
- If implemented effectively, stopping >18m vessels fishing inshore patently will reduce fishing pressure on Sprat significantly. Here on the West Cork coast in particular, the vast majority of Sprat is landed by pair trawlers larger than 18m.
- Removing all trawling by vessels over 18m from inshore waters will clearly also reduce the impact from trawling (both mid-water and bottom trawling) on the broader marine ecosystem and sensitive inshore habitats.
- While we share concerns that smaller vessels have the capacity to increase fishing effort for Sprat, and believe all vessels needs to be monitored and regulated (see our list of queries/concerns), we do not believe it is reasonable to assume inshore fishers will take this approach and to target them without evidence. We must see what the smaller vessels choose to do, and react accordingly based on their actions.
- We agree that these measures on their own do not go far enough. However, we see the introduction of this ban as a significant step in the right direction.
- Our position is to engage positively with a government that has shown a capacity to act, to lobby for augmentation of these measures by further protection and regulation, appropriate science and, ultimately, to emerge with a clear understanding of what represents a sustainable fishery for Sprat that can restore marine ecosystems, benefit inshore fishers and preserve coastal communities.
Why aren’t we calling for a moratorium anymore?
In an ideal world, implementing a moratorium on all Sprat fishing pending a comprehensive stock assessment and introducing quotas across the industry to ensure a sustainable fishery would, of course, be the perfect solution. However, we don’t live in a perfect world… and here in the real world, effective conservation measures demand compromise, collaboration and negotiation.
The word moratorium is fraught with political risk. It is an easy enough word to bandy about as a buzzword to garner support for a campaign. However, for a sitting government, the mere whiff of the word moratorium in relation to fishing — any kind of fishing — will galvanise resistance not only from the entire fishing community, but also from the broader coastal community, who rightly view indigenous inshore fishing as a fundamental and traditional part of coastal life.
In short, no sitting government is going to touch it with a barge pole.
So, rather than persist with unrealistic demands that are unlikely to bear fruit in the short- to medium-term, we take the more pragmatic view that it is better to work with the people who are in a position to take action to save our Sprat sooner, rather than later.
Moratorium is just a word. We do not really care about labels — we are much more interested in positive action that helps save Sprat, protects inshore marine ecosystems, conserves marine wildlife and preserves the viability of our coastal communities. That is why this group exists, and what we will keep working towards.
What happens next?
What happens next depends very much on a few different things:
- Whether the >18m Trawler operators challenge the ban in the High Court (the deadline to initiate such action is 3 months after the announcement — so in and around 22 October 2025) and the outcome of that.
- How satisfactory the Government’s responses to our list of queries and concerns are — particularly around regulating smaller vessels and commissioning the required scientific assessment.
- How the smaller inshore vessels choose to respond once the ban on larger vessels comes into effect.
On the surface, it may look like we are doing little, but deciding not to take action in an informed and deliberate way is a very different thing from inaction. For the moment, we are monitoring the situation closely, working behind the scenes to gather as much information as we can, engaging with relevant parties and exploring non-fisheries dependent avenues that could help protect sprat. We are very much still here and are ready to take whatever steps become necessary to Save Our Sprat.
We will of course post any news here and through our social media channels as soon as we have anything significant to report. Thanks for your patience and ongoing support.
Save Our Sprat West Cork