About Save Our Sprat West Cork

Save our Sprat Kinsale to Mizen Head was established in June 2025 by a group of concerned residents and small businesses on the stretch of the West Cork coast spanning from The Old Head of Kinsale to Mizen Head, incorporating the key sprat spawning grounds of Courtmacsherry Bay, Clonakilty Bay, Rosscarbery Bay and Roaringwater Bay.

Decades watching marine wildlife off the West Cork coast led to us observing firsthand the dramatic decline in diversity and abundance of seabirds, marine mammals and fish along this stretch of coast. The wildlife, once so prevalent, is simply no longer here.

The absence of wildlife is bad enough in itself, but it is a symptom — a visual indicator, if you like — of a much more pervasive and insidious problem. Beneath the surface, out of sight, our coastal marine ecosystem is on the verge of collapse, and that affects more than just wildlife, it impacts jobs, the rural economy and ultimately the long-term viability of our coastal communities.

This dramatic malaise correlates directly with the systematic targeting of forage fish, principally Sprat, by West Cork owned and operated trawlers, when they gather in sheltered bays along our coast to spawn. These small forage fish — a vital link in the marine food web — are hoovered up by industrial-scale vessels operating in pairs, hauling a huge net between them, removing entire shoals of sprat from our coastal waters with lethal efficiency before they ever get a chance to spawn.

The situation is critical, and recent catalysts — not least of which was West Cork’s first, and perhaps most iconic whale-watch operator, Colin Barnes of Cork Whale Watch, throwing in the towel after more than 25 years in business — led to the formation of this group to represent our stretch of the Irish coastline, and augment the efforts of concerned groups in Bantry Bay and Kenmare Bay to the west.

We invite you to join us and lend your voice to the burgeoning chorus calling on our government, in no uncertain terms, to protect the viability of inshore waters surrounding our island nation, and the coastal communities that depend on it, before it’s too late!

Inshore trawling for sprat (and any other forage fish species) needs to stop, NOW!