Objections to enforcement of vital sea fishing regulations are terribly misplaced

Complaints from the fishing industry come at time of multiple stresses for the sector and with greater levels of EU-wide control and monitoring of fishing activities beginning to come into force in 2026. This is necessary so the public can have trust that marine life and the ocean environment are managed in accordance with the law says ecologist Pádraic Fogarty

Launching the SFPA’s Rigid Inflatable Boats (RIBs) into Kinsale harbour, Cork are Adrian Hickey, Sean Murray and Virginia Valls, Sea-Fisheries Protection Officers from the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority. File picture: Daragh McSweeney/Provision

High-profile cases of environmental crime in recent months have highlighted the need for well resourced regulatory authorities that have a clear mandate from the public to carry out their work. This can create strain in industries under the spotlight, such as when in 2023 the Environmental Protection Agency came under sustained fire from farming organisations and their political supporters for demonstrating the deterioration in water quality, primarily as a result of farming activities.

Now, similar criticisms have been levelled at the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority (SFPA) — a statutory body which supervises and enforces sea fishing regulations within Irish waters (both Irish and foreign boats). The fishing industry is not happy with the SFPA, accusing it of jeopardising the competitiveness of the sector and being biased against Irish fishing boats.

SFPA Emphasises Seafood Safety, Trade Verification Role and Sea-Fisheries Control Activities in 2024 Annual Reporthttps://t.co/DyWeiVZYMx

— Sea Fisheries Protection Authority (@SFPAIreland) November 6, 2025

The September issue of the Marine Times, an industry newspaper, was peppered with headlines such as 'Why Ireland must act on fisheries inspections' and 'Morally bankrupt', over a letter to the editor decrying a successful case taken by the SFPA against a fishing master for fishing without a valid licence. The same edition featured fishing industry leaders, such as Aodh O’Donnell of the Irish Fish Producers Organisation saying “Ireland’s system has become overly complex, heavy-handed and inconsistent with approaches in other EU coastal states”.

The commentary follows a session of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Fisheries and Maritime Affairs, chaired by Sinn Féin’s Conor McGuinness in July, which was focussed on criticism of the SFPA by industry representatives and many of the attending Oireachtas members, notably in the absence of the SFPA themselves.

In their written submission, the Seafood Ireland Alliance, representing five of the large fishing organisations, demanded an “an urgent review of the relevant parts of the 2006 Sea Fisheries Bill, that covers the structure and operation of the SFPA”, bemoaning that “Ireland has the most punitive penalty system of any [EU] Member State and perhaps in the world”.

Cormac Burke of the Irish Fishing and Seafood Alliance (a separate body) told committee members that “as a matter of great urgency, the SFPA be reformed, reduced in size and powers”. He described the relationship between the industry and the SFPA as “toxic” adding that there are a “group of people […] masquerading as so-called industry supporters, who must be identified, exposed and cleared out once and for all” and that “this Government and this committee must instigate a clean-up campaign of the Irish national marine agencies”.

Dominic Rihan, CEO of the Killybegs Fishermen’s Organisation

Dominic Rihan, head of the Killybegs Fishermen’s Organisation suggested that the SFPA displays a “a level of heavy-handedness at times. Vessels feel they are being targeted and victimised”. For the most part, participating Oireachtas members nodded along. The chair committed to bringing in the SFPA to present their side of the argument but, writing in the August issue of Marine Times, McGuinness, a TD for Waterford, said that the fisheries protection regime was “out of step with the rest of Europe and deeply unfair in how it treats Irish fishermen".

What is causing this pressure on the SFPA and is there any truth behind the allegations?

In a statement the SFPA told me that “European legislation is directly applicable in all Member States and audits by the Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (DG MARE) are undertaken to verify that Member States’ Competent Authorities are applying the legislation in a consistent manner that ensures compliance with the legislative requirements".

Nobody enjoys being inspected and supervised... but something that was not raised at the Oireachtas committee was the background as to why the capabilities of the SFPA have been beefed up in recent years.

There was no mention of the 2018 audit report from the European Commission that there were “severe and significant weaknesses” in Ireland’s control regime and that “the enforcement and sanctioning system in Ireland is inadequate, with the apparent lack of follow up of suspected infringements by the [SFPA] and a lack of effective, dissuasive and proportionate sanctions applied”.

The EU did not trust Ireland to accurately weigh and report on fish landings. In short, there was massive overfishing and fraud within the Irish fishing industry, including for species such as mackerel and blue whiting, which are now on the verge of collapse, threatening the viability of the entire sector.

This paper reported in 2021 that over a four-year period, Ireland overfished its quota for these species by 40,000 tonnes.

As a result, Ireland was compelled to submit a new control plan to the EU, something which has been in force since 2023. The SFPA describes the implementation of this plan as “critical” in ensuring Ireland is compliant with fishing regulations and says that in 2023 there was an 80% compliance rate. The SFPA reports that following a review of its capabilities, an independent advisory board concluded that all 46 recommendations were implemented by the end of 2023. The fishing industry is not happy with many of the measures in this new plan.

Complaints from the fishing industry come at time of multiple stresses for the sector and with greater levels of EU-wide control and monitoring of fishing activities beginning to come into force in 2026. This is necessary so that the public can have trust that marine life and the ocean environment, which are not private property, are managed in accordance with the law and that the 'cowboy days' are behind us. This, in turn is good for the industry, which is why their complaints, and the support for these by certain politicians, is terribly misplaced.