Author Archive

French Trawler Freed

A French Fishing vessel which had been detained and proscuted for Fishing Offences relating to the use of a prohibited in ICES Zone VIIj has seen the prosecution withdrawn. The Skipper of the vessel had been prosecuted under EC Regulation 494/2002 for using a Fishery net prohibited by Article 5.2 of the Regualtion. The... Read More

DPP to prosecute Fishery Offences

Change of Prosecutor As and from the 1st August 2009, the Attorney General, has been replaced by the Director of Public Prosecutions. The changeover means several things in relation to sea fishery prosecutions. It is best to explain the changes in the context of how a sea fishery prosecution progresses. Where the Navy detains... Read More

Discarding the Discards

We are not looking for just another reform, we are asking questions even on the fundamentals of the current policy and should leave no stone unturned. – Maritime commissioner Joe Borg. On the 25th of May 2009 in a Speech given by the Commissioner to the Fisheries Council, Brussels, he also addressed the question... Read More

Bluefin Tuna Ban

The European Commission has proposed under the Convention on International Trade and Endangered Species (CITES) that there would be a ban on the sale of Bluefin Tuna until such time as it is removed from the list of species that are under threat of extinction. The proposal is to list Atlantic Bluefin Tuna which... Read More

High court decision regarding a Tuna authorisation

High Court Holds Minister wrongfully withdrew Fishing Authorisation In a recent decision handed down by the High Court, the Court was asked to deal with the manner in which the Department had dealt with an application for a Tuna Authorisation which the Department tried to set aside. The Court held in the case that... Read More

Banning fishing for Eels

It’s no great news…..that the Irish government is not in the best odour with anyone at the moment so far as its performance is concerned. It’s also fair to say that so far as Fisherman are concerned, this simply means that everyone else has come around to their pre-existing point of view. The latest... Read More

Buying and Selling a boat

In order to give some pointers as to what needs to be considered when you are buying or selling a trawler, the easiest way to do so is to look at it from the purposes of buying a boat and then highlight what is different about selling a boat. The primary rule in any... Read More

Problem solving in 2009

it is clear that being with the Departments (Department of Marine, Department of Agriculture and the Department of Transport) as a fisherman, it sometimes feels that instead of spending 90% of your time on fishing and 10% of your time looking after the administration of your business that the administration side takes a far... Read More