This pleases British fishermen who believe it will give them exclusive access to their vast sea territory. The bigger fish Lynch has his eye on is the potential future deal to be reached between the EU and the UK, the outline of which was set out in the political declaration agreed last month.īrexit means the UK will depart the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy. “If we are out, we are out we won’t go in because of that risk,” he says.Īs we pass by the Kish lighthouse, talk in the wheelhouse turns to the killer whales spotted on the Irish Sea recently and the best time of year to see humpback whales off the south coast (spring and summer).
“The minute we go into UK waters, we will shine up on their screens,” he says.Ī hard Brexit, if it was really chaotic, could mean more intensive Royal Navy patrols and the potential for vessels being impounded and court appearances in places such as Holyhead when frontiers are crossed. On the bank of screens in front of him in the wheelhouse he can identity a nearby vessel with a few clicks on his computer. On-board satellite tracking systems and technology leave no room for error. Lynch would not even contemplate fishing in UK waters if it is a no-deal Brexit. It doesn't matter if it's Killybegs, Rossaveal, Dingle, Castletownbere, Dunmore East, Kilmore Quay, Howth or Clogherhead, " he says, listing off the main fishing ports around Irish coast. "If Brexit goes wrong in fisheries, there is no area that won't be affected. We can't countenance it and seem to be on the precipice of it," he says. "A hard Brexit would absolutely destroy the Irish fishing industry. "We are in the eye of the storm," says Seán O'Donoghue, chief executive of the Killybegs Fishermen's Organisation, one of the industry's representative bodies that has been lobbying hard about Brexit in Brussels as part of a group of nine member states operating under the banner of the European Fisheries Alliance. Overall, about a third of total Irish fishing volumes are caught in British waters, so a disorderly Brexit would badly hurt an industry that employs about 14,000 people, including 4,000 Irish fishermen on 2,050 boats.
#Ireland scenery fishermen full#
An area known as "the Smalls" to the west of the Scilly Isles off Cornwall, also in UK waters, is full of prawns and another popular destination for Irish trawlers. The seas west of the Shetland Islands are prime waters for migratory mackerel where the fish are at their best quality. Irish trawlers currently catch 60 per cent of mackerel and 40 per cent of Dublin Bay prawns in UK waters. The mainstay of the Irish fishing fleets are mackerel and prawns (nephrops). “If there is a hard Brexit, the fish could be there,” says Lynch, pointing to the red UK seas on his portentous map, “and we could be here”, he adds, pointing to the blue EU seas, “wasting our time”.īrexit's choppy seas extend far beyond these waters. The strong tides up the middle of this, the deepest part of the Irish Sea, make these waters rich feeding grounds for fish and lucrative areas for Irish trawlers. He fishes up and down the sea frontier between the EU and UK economic exclusion zones, or EEZs, from July to January before heading to trawl his nets off the south coast. About 60 per cent of Lynch's catch comes from the UK side of the Irish Sea. The fish are sold in Dublin and the UK through a sales agent. The Eblana, a 30-year-old boat spanning 22m, catches ray and whitefish, including plaice, cod and haddock. “After the hard Brexit – if there’s a hard Brexit – we will have that portion there, that small portion of blue on the east coast of Ireland,” says Lynch. “That has always been my prediction and they will negotiate their way back in over a few years on better terms,” says Lynch. And, given the growing political turmoil in London this week, a hard Brexit is becoming more of a possibility.Ĭrew members Conor Lynch and Shane Harrington at work on board the fishing vessel Eblana. It would become a hard border down the Irish Sea, the actual frontline of Brexit for Irish and British trawlermen. If the Brexit deal is not ratified by the time the UK is set to leave the EU on March 29th, 2019, this is the line beyond which Lynch must pull up his nets and stop fishing. The boundary is just 30 nautical miles out, the equivalent of 34 miles on land. Lynch is bringing The Irish Times out to the Irish Sea border between what will be European Union and UK waters after Brexit. Our destination is a border, not a hard or soft border but a watery frontier. John Lynch and his crew are preparing to take his trawler, the Eblana, out into the Irish Sea.
It is an overcast but dry December morning at Howth pier in north Co Dublin.
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