Large trawler restrictions welcome but careful management still needed

It has been a long road to get to this point, but will it finally result in pressure being lifted on important ecosystems and in particular the small whale populations that have abandoned the south coast in recent years for want of food asks ecologist Pádraic Fogarty

Fishing boats trawling for sprats at dusk on the River Suir, between Waterford and Wexford, with the Blackstairs Mountains visible in the background. Picture: RollingNews.ie

The Government recently announced that, from October 2026, trawling activity by boats over 18metres will be prohibited from fishing within six nautical miles of the coast. This includes seine nets (nets that are dragged through the water column) and bottom trawls.

It follows a campaign by fishermen in small boats (also called the inshore fleet), NGOs, anglers and coastal communities that has been on-going for more than a decade. It has been a long road to get to this point, but will it finally result in pressure being lifted on important ecosystems and in particular the small whale populations that have abandoned the south coast in recent years for want of food?

The answer depends on who you ask. The minister for nature Christopher O’Sullivan told RTÉ that it would leave an extra 8,000 tonnes of sprat (a small fish that is a critical source of food for marine wildlife) in the sea, providing a “breathing space for species to recover”. Minister of state with responsibility for fisheries, Timmy Dooley, on the other hand, said that “these measures will provide for our important small-scale fishers”.

The extra fish not in the nets of the big boats will be of little use to whales and puffins if they simply end up in the nets of small boats. Data from the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority shows that during the 2020-2024 period the split between sprat catches by bigger boats and those below 18 metres was nearly even. If we see increased effort by the smaller boats in the autumn of 2026 then the benefits for wildlife could end up being effectively zero.

Is there a way that the inshore area could be managed for the benefit of both the smaller boats and wildlife?

This would be a happy outcome for many but is predicated on good management measures across this biologically and culturally vital zone. Campaign groups such ‘Save Our Sprat’ have pointed out that there will be no quota applied to the sprats even after the ban comes into force.

The Government will apply a quota of 2,000 tonnes for the bigger boats this autumn — but this figure, all by itself, exceeds the scientific advice for sprat catches across the entirety of the North East Atlantic region that stretches from north of Scotland to the north of France. The Government proposal therefore mandates continued overfishing of the sprat, a fish that has been “hammered” by fishing in recent years according to the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group.

Campaigners, including TD Jennifer Whitmore of the Social Democrats, sensibly called for a moratorium on all sprat fishing until a full scientific assessment could be completed. Thereafter an appropriate quota could be apportioned to the smaller boats to catch sprat for human consumption (most are sent to be processed for fishmeal — a grotesque waste of marine life).

While smaller boats are inherently more sensitive to the local environment it is also true that many small boats are involved in inherently unsustainable practices, from suction dredging for razor clams, dredging for scallops and surf clams, and tangle netting that drowns endangered species. Much of this is within designated sites for nature conservation.

So while a ban on large trawlers is welcome, it is no substitute for careful management that takes the needs of both humans and wildlife into consideration.

• Pádraic Fogarty is an ecologist and former campaign officer for the Irish Wildlife Trust. He is author of the 2017 book Whittled Away — Ireland’s Vanishing Nature, the 2021 podcast series Shaping New Mountains.