Damien Enright: Over-fishing of sprat in bays is destroying fish stocks

If you take away the sprat and sand eels all the larger fish that rely on them will starve

A Fin whale 'lunge-feeding' on sprat off the west Cork coast.

Do we all know that recently our government again failed to outlaw the stripping of bays of sprat, the basic food of the fish that feed us? It’s only the environment, of course, and Irish governments have never taken that seriously. Readers know the implications but does the Government?

Bays act as nurseries for juvenile fish and all sprat, including the still immature are being extracted to be ground into dogfood, mink-food, pig-food and fishmeal. Sprat are fit for human consumption, even tasty, some would say, but we prefer the larger fish that feed on them.