Call for tighter monitoring as trawler crew who landed in Castletownbere test positive for Covid-19

File image of Castletownbere harbour

There have been calls for tighter health monitoring at Irish fishing ports following confirmation of an outbreak of coronavirus amongst the crew of a trawler just days after they landed their catch in West Cork.

The French-flagged Spanish-owned fishing vessel that landed in Castletownbere 13 days ago has been quarantined in a Spanish port since Friday after more than half its 15 strong crew tested positive for the coronavirus.

The fishing magazine, The Skipper, reported yesterday that the 32-metre Notre Dame Cedeira is currently tied up in its home port of Celeiro, in the north west of Spain, after eight of its crew tested positive for the deadly virus. One, the skipper, was hospitalised.

The vessel left its home port on April 10 to fish in Irish waters.

It was among a fleet of around 40 Spanish vessels that spent several days in mid April fishing in an area of ocean some 40 nautical miles south west of Mizen Head.

The vessel headed to Castletownbere to land its catch of mostly hake and monkfish and arrived on April 21.

The vessel spent three hours tied up in the busy whitefish fishing port before setting out for sea again.

But during that time the crew would have interacted with local agents, forklift drivers, truck drivers and fuel delivery workers.

It is understood that shortly after leaving Castletownbere, the skipper reported feeling unwell and was advised to return to the vessel' home port.

On arrival in Celeiro, the vessel was met by authorities and medics and the skipper was taken by ambulance to a local hospital. His 14-crew mates were swabbed on board the vessel for coronavirus.

The test results confirmed that the skipper and seven crew were positive for the virus while one crew member who had reported feeling unwell shortly after they left Spain three weeks earlier tested positive for antibodies, indicating that he had contracted the coronavirus but had recovered during the fishing voyage.

The skipper of the Notre Dame Cedeira informed Spanish authorities that none of the crew went ashore when the vessel landed fish in Castletownbere on April 21.

But is is unclear yet if Irish authorities have been notified.

Anyone who has been in contact with a confirmed case is advised to self-isolate for 14-days.

A community source in Castletownbere said the outbreak on this fishing vessel has exposed a possible backdoor for the virus into Ireland.

And he said people in the fishing town are now concerned that after all their efforts to suppress the virus, they could now be at risk arising out of contacts with this vessel.

The source said gardai were stopping people on the pier in Castletownbere on Saturday morning to ensure people were adhering to the 2km travel restrictions.

"The department has put strict guidelines and protocols in place but these are not monitored 24-hours a day," he said.

"You could have up to 20 vessels landing at the port day or night every weekend. There is no point introducing protocols if you haven't got the staff in place at the right time to implement or enforce them."

The Government designated fishing, processing, ports and haulage as essential services and has sought to keep critical food supply lines open during the lockdown.

The Department of the Marine said this evening that the procedures put in place by the department for all fish landings were implemented in full in this case. A spokesman also confirmed that the vessel issued the required Maritime Declaration of Health to the HSE's environmental health office before landing its catch.

"More generally, the HSE have advised that essential supply chain workers such as pilots, hauliers, maritime staff members who do not have symptoms need not restrict their movements when entering the country."