Mac Lochlainn launches petition to ban supertrawlers in Irish waters

Sinn Féin spokesperson on Fisheries and the Marine, Pádraig Mac Lochlainn TD, has began a petition calling for tremendous trawlers to be banned from Irish waters.

The petition, addressed to Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, says ‘sufficient is sufficient’ and requires tremendous trawlers to be banned from fishing in Irish waters and all European waters underneath the jurisdiction of the Widespread Fisheries Coverage.

Deputy Mac Lochlainn’s marketing campaign follows sightings of two of the world’s largest tremendous trawlers fishing within the Irish Unique Financial Zone. The 475 foot Annelies Ilena and the 470 foot Margiris, had been fishing in Irish waters off the west coast over the past week.  They had been joined by one other tremendous trawler, the 383 foot Helen Mary. All three vessels are owned by the large Dutch company, Parlevliet & van der Plas.

Teachta Mac Lochlainn mentioned: “The presence of those monster vessels in Irish waters is a kick within the enamel for a struggling Irish fishing business that’s dealing with additional quota cuts, tie-up schemes and the decommissioning of dozens of vessels.

“These tremendous trawlers are undoubtedly inflicting untold injury to valuable fish shares off Eire’s coast. Final 12 months, the Margiris shed 100,000 useless fish into the Bay of Biscay off the coast of France.

“How can anybody throughout the Irish authorities or European Fee name this methodology of fishing sustainable with a straight face?

“It’s extremely harmful and it have to be stopped. These supertrawlers have been banned from fishing in Australian waters and they need to be banned from fishing in all European waters now too.”

The petition could be discovered right here: https://my.uplift.ie/petitions/ban-super-trawlers-in-irish-waters

Mac Lochlainn launches petition to ban supertrawlers in Irish waters was final modified: March twenty second, 2023 by Rachel McLaughlin