Fight for fishing grounds a ‘dirty battle’

Irish fishing organisations have said moves by Britain to effectively place a hard border around its fishing waters would increase pressure on Irish waters, cost jobs here, and even threaten the future of Dublin Bay prawns.

The UK signalled over the weekend that it wished to withdraw from the London Fisheries Conventions, which, if implemented, would mean Irish trawlers would no longer be allowed to fish within 12 nautical miles of the British coastline.

Agriculture Minister Michael Creed described the move as “unwelcome and unhelpful”, but fishing bodies have gone further, with Castletownbere Fishing Co-operative in West Cork declaring that the move could be the start of “a dirty battle”.