Irish Fishermen Get Shirty About Whales

BY LLOYD GORMAN

A BUNCH OF PLUCKY IRISH FISHERMEN HAS DONE WHAT A FORMER AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER PROMISED BUT FAILED TO DO. IN 2014, TONY ABBOTT SAID HE WOULD “SHIRTFRONT” RUSSIAN PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN OVER THE DOWNING OF MALAYSIAN AIRLINES FLIGHT MH17 IN EASTERN UKRAINE, IN WHICH 38 AUSTRALIANS LOST THEIR LIVES.

“I’m going to shirtfront Mr Putin ... you bet I am,” he said on TV. In the end his bark was worse than his bite. Admittedly, it would take a lot to stand up to Putin whose country does not muck around with defence issues, but it seems Russia bit off more than it could chew when planning to carry out maritime war games in the Atlantic Ocean, about 150 miles off the west coast of Ireland, in an area inside the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone in a spot fished by Irish trawlers, mainly from Castletownbere, West Cork. The welfare of whales and other sea creatures formed a big part of why the Irish were so defiant. The fishermen and their representative organisation – the Irish South and West Fish Producers Organisation (ISWFPO) – met with Yuriy Filatov, the Russian Ambassador to Ireland, in late January to make their case. They said they would continue to fish the area as normal, despite the danger posed by Russian vessels going through their drills. “We don’t want anyone doing live fire in our waters; it’s our backyard, it’s where we make our living,” fisherman Alan Carlton told an (Irish) CNN reporter. “We’re worried about what live fire might do to fish stock and marine life. There’s whales and dolphins out there, it’s bound to interfere with them and frighten them like. It’d frighten me if a bomb went off there, so it’s bound to frighten them.” The reporter, Donnie O’Sullivan, asked Carlton what message he would send to the Russian President. “Maybe they could go out to deeper water where they wouldn’t affect the fish stock as much,” he replied. Around the same time as the fishermen were rocking up at the Russian embassy the Irish government – which, some said, came late to the party – was throwing its own shapes. On January 25, CarlowKilkenny TD Malcolm Noonan issued a statement saying he was deeply concerned about the military exercises planned by the Russians. “While we do not know the nature of these exercises,”

he said, “we do know that underwater sounds, such as active military sonar, can have devastating consequences for cetaceans, including some of our rarest marine mammal species, notably the deepdiving and rarely-seen blue whale, sperm whale and beaked whales. “It can cause significant disruption to their hearing systems and normal behaviour, and may lead to permanent or even lethal injury. I have written to Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney and the Russian Ambassador to express these concerns,” the Green Party TD said. “Ireland’s marine mammals have been the focus of considerable research efforts over the past three decades and the understanding of species occurrence, abundance and distribution has improved markedly in that time. “Most recently the ObSERVE project, run jointly by my Department (Heritage) and the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications, mapped cetaceans through aerial and ship-based surveys over a three-year period and across an extensive area of our offshore waters. The second phase of this project – ObSERVE 2 – is currently ongoing.” The message must have got through. On January 29, Mr Filatov issued a press release confirming that Russia had capitulated to the Irish demands. He said: “In response to requests from the Irish government and the Irish South and West Fish Producers Organisation, the Minister of Defence Sergey Shoigu has decided, as a gesture of goodwill,

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to relocate the exercises by the Russian Navy, planned for February 3-8, outside the Irish Exclusive Economic Zone, with the aim not to hinder fishing activities by the Irish vessels in the traditional fishing areas.” When word of the Russian backdown came through, Patrick Murphy of the ISWFPO was astonished. “Wow, I’m shocked,” he said. “I didn’t think little old us in the Irish south and west would have an impact on international diplomacy.” Among those taking note was a big fish in the European Union -- Virginijus Sinkevičius, EU Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries. “Irish fishermen got their diplomatic game on!,” he tweeted on January 30. “They managed to stop Russian military exercises that would undermine their activities and marine life. Real custodians of the sea on duty! The world could use more of you!” Not surprisingly, this story made headlines around the world, but it is worth remembering this is not the first time Cork locals have eyeballed the powerful country. In September 1898, the Skibbereen Eagle published an editorial that gained international attention and earned it a place in Irish history. “We warn the Tsar,” it said. “This newspaper will keep its eye on the Emperor of Russia, and all such despotic enemies – whether at home or abroad – of human progression, and man’s natural rights, which undoubtedly include a nation’s claim to self-government.”

WHEN WARSHIPS BECOME ACCIDENTAL WHALING SHIPS

Military exercises at sea involve the firing of munitions and an increased use of sonar and other technology that have been shown to be damaging to marine life, including whales and dolphins. Often these creatures become casualties of a phoney war in other ways. In May last year, the Australian destroyer HMAS Sydney (7000 tonnes and approximately 147m long) conducted joint training exercises with the American navy in Southern California. As the Sydney pulled into pier at an American naval base in San Diego it became clear the carcasses of two fin whales had been caught and trapped underneath its hull. Fin whales are the second largest cetacean in the world, next only to the blue whale. One of the trapped whales was reported to be 65 feet (19.81 metres) long and the other 25 feet (7.62 metres). “The Navy takes marine mammal safety seriously and is disheartened this incident occurred,” a US Navy statement said. Both navies were due to review the incident. Closer to home and a bit further back in time, a big humpback whale came off worse in an encounter between it and HMAS Perth. In October 2009, the animal was killed when it breached and hit the port bow of the 118-metre, 3600-tonne frigate about six nautical miles east of Rottnest during routine exercises. A Navy spokesman said it was not possible for the ship to have taken evasive action. No damage or harm was caused to the ship and crew. “Incidents like this are sometimes unavoidable and any injury to the whale is regretted,” he added.

TITANIC TRAWLER SPOOKS IRISH FISHING GROUNDS

Foreign warships are not the only ones taking liberties with Ireland’s Exclusive Economic Zone that stretches about 200 miles (320km) west into the high seas of the Atlantic ocean. No sooner had the Russians backed away when the next threat emerged. The Dutch-owned FV Margiris – a so-called super trawler said to be the same size as the Titantic and sailing under the Lithuanian flag – was in waters off Mayo. Just a week earlier, the same ship – the world’s second largest fishing vessel – spilled 100,000 dead fish into the Bay of Biscay creating an environmental disaster and alarm for French maritime and government authorities. The Pelagic Freezer-Trawler Association, which represents the ship’s owner, described it as “a rare occurrence” that was caused by a ruptured net. Appropriate legal steps were taken after the incident, the association added. But the French branch of the environmental watchdog, Sea Shepherd, filmed the incident and said it believed the

Right: Greenpeace campaigners protest the FV Marigis in South Australian waters.

fish (blue whiting) were deliberately dumped because they were not the type the trawler wanted to process. This practice – known as discharging bycatch – is illegal under EU fishing rules. The presence of the massive trawler raised serious concerns for activists, authorities and commentators in the marine sector. Dr Simon Berrow, from the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group, said there needed to be greater transparency and monitoring of these vessels. “The evidence on (Irish) beaches, especially at this time of year, is that there is a big bycatch,” he told the Irish Independent. “There has been an increase in the number of common dolphins stranded since 2011; it gets bigger every year. The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group is concerned about the bycatch of dolphins by large vessels, and independent observers recording the incidental catch of non-target species is essential. It has to be an EU decision.” Marine biologist Kevin Flannery agreed there needed to be closer scrutiny of these super trawlers. “It’s a ship the size of the Titanic,” he told the Irish Independent. “You’re looking at a net with the opening of Sydney Opera House or Croke Park. You’re looking at huge volumes. Ireland’s fleet is a fresh fish fleet, but these factory ships are freezing (what they catch). “What has already occurred in the past week leaves serious, serious doubts in the mind in relation to what’s going on without full-time monitors. The pictures were shocking — and then they steam out of there and go up the west coast of Mayo.” The 9500-tonne FV Margiris – previously known as Abel Tasman – already had form in other parts of the world, including Australia. Ten years ago a campaign by Greenpeace about the ship – which had a quota to catch 18,000 tonnes of fish in Australian waters – led to such a public outcry that it was banned by the government of the day which was later upheld by the federal court. ☘

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