Australia bans Irish-owned supertrawler

THE world’s second-biggest fishing trawler, the Irish-owned Veronica, has been banned from fishing off Australia’s south-east coast.

The ban mirrors action already taken against the ship by the New South Wales and South Australian state governments who cited the need to protect fish stocks.

Australian environmentalists had warned that the giant factory ship, owned by Killybegs-based entrepreneur Kevin McHugh, would devastate stocks of the small pelagic fish that provide a key link in the ocean food chain.

A spokesman for the Department of Communications, Marine & Natural Resources said the department had no comment to make.

At 106 metres long, Veronica - named after Mr McHugh’s wife - is five times larger than a typical trawler. Nearly as long as a football field, the Panama-registered vessel has a crew of 50.

With three processing factories on board, the trawler can hold 5,000 tonnes of fish and stay at sea for months at a time.

An Achill Islander who moved to the Co Donegal fishing port, Mr McHugh, aged 58, also owns the world’s largest trawler, the 144-metre Irish-registered Atlantic Dawn.

As minister for the marine, Fianna Fáil’s Frank Fahey travelled to Norway to mark the completion of that vessel’s hull in February 2000. The €65 million ship was built to operate outside EU territorial waters but at the same time avail of EU treaties with countries such as Mauritania.

In a controversial EU/Irish brokered fish deal that involved Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, the 14,000-tonne Atlantic Dawn was brought onto the Irish register.

Trawler stats

106 - metres long.

50 - crew.

Five times bigger than typical trawler.

Three on-board processing plants.