Fishermen aim to bar foreign fleets

FURIOUS fishermen, forced out of work by the EU’s ban on whitefish, are demanding the shutdown of Irish ports to block foreign fleets landing catches from Irish waters.

Ice plant facilities, necessary for the transhipment of landed catches to Spain, should not be available to the flagship boats still operating in the Irish Box, fishermen argued yesterday.

Industry representatives will meet with fishermen in key ports today to plan wide scale protests against the EU’s decision to stop the whitefish fleet, which reached its quota, going to sea until after January 1.