New ‘weighing at pier’ rules are an ‘absolute disaster’ for fishermen

Castletownbere, West Cork: Irish fishermen are threatening to blockade fishing ports around Cork, Dublin and Rosslare in the next few weeks over EU plans to change the way fishermen's catches are weighed. Picture: Andy Gibson.

New rules requiring all fish catches to be weighed by the pier side have left fishermen reeling as they scramble to access weighing scales that are in short supply.

The new requirement follows an EU decision last month to revoke a previous derogation, allowing catches to be weighed in factories and processors, on foot of audits suggesting that catches were being manipulated and misreported.