Irish vessels return to Rockall, but stay outside exclusion zone

Patrick Murphy: The Government should remind Scotland that if it wants to rejoin the EU, continuing to ban Irish trawlers from the exclusion zone could harm its chances of getting back in.

Irish trawlers have returned to Rockall to fish but they are staying away from the 12 nautical mile exclusion zone around it.

Their return follows an incident earlier this month when a Donegal trawler was stopped and boarded by officers from a Marine Scotland patrol boat near Rockall, in the north Atlantic.

Since then Irish trawlers have avoided the exclusion zone, and the Government has been engaged in talks with the relevant Scottish and UK authorities, who have claimed the rocky outcrop as their own.

The Government has warned that while talks continue, there remains “an increased risk of enforcement action” by Scottish fisheries control authorities against Irish vessels operating in the waters around Rockall.

Patrick Murphy, CEO of the Irish South and West Fish Producers Organisation, said the Government should remind Scotland that if it wants to rejoin the EU, continuing to ban Irish trawlers from the exclusion zone could harm its chances of getting back in.

The Government should tell Scotland that a good start on the road back into Europe would be to let Irish trawlers back into Rockall, where we have traditional fishing rights.

"This should form part of any negotiations between Scotland and the EU in the future whenever they try and rejoin," he said.

“I think it is unbelievable cheek and arrogance of the Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to keep threatening Boris Johnson she is going to leave the UK and rejoin the EU, and at the same time kicking one of their nearest neighbours - us, the Irish - out of Rockall.”

Brexit talks 

Mr Murphy also said he has been told by an EU Commission member that Rockall - where many Irish trawlers catch up to 30% of their annual amount of fish - did not feature in Brexit negotiations.

“I am appalled that nobody from the Irish government appears to have represented the interests of the Irish fishing fleet in the negotiations before the Brexit deal concluded last month,” he said.

What people need to realise is that the Irish fishing fleet is being well and truly shafted right under the noses of successive Irish governments.

“Not only does the Brexit deal mean a drop in income of up to 20% for all trawlers due to the deal done by the EU to appease the British, but Rockall is also a huge loss to the fleet.”

Fishermen aboard the Northern Celt were told on January 4 they were not allowed fish near the controversial rock outcrop.

Although skipper Adrian McClenaghan had been issued with a temporary licence to fish in UK waters, the patrol boat officers told him the permission did not permit him to fish in the zone.

The Jura arrived to patrol the zone on New Year’s Day, exactly one day after the Brexit transition period ended.

A spokesperson for the Scottish government told the Irish Examiner: "As a matter of law, and as agreed between the EU and UK as coastal states, there is currently no right of access for non-UK vessels to fish in territorial waters around Rockall."