Dingle fishermen block Spanish landing amid Coronavirus fears

A Spanish fishing trawler was prevented from landing a catching in Dingle during the night after local fishermen mounted a blockade at the port. 

Up to 40 fisherman lay on the ground to block a truck from the Spanish trawler from collecting the fish. The fishermen say they acted to protect the town from the coronavirus.

Up to 30 protestors now blocking the entrance to Dingle pier. Local Gardaí have arrived.

The fishermen say they will prevent a Spanish registered truck from loading fish from French trawler, arriving later tonight, amid fears of #COVID19 transmission. pic.twitter.com/4Eh5l3q9ZN

— Seán Mac an tSíthigh (@Buailtin) April 20, 2020

“We achieved our objective, which is to protect our town from coronavirus. We have no issue with foreign boats coming in here, they’ve been coming in here for years, we just don’t want them coming in here now while this crisis is happening,” spokesman Mickey Hennessy told RTÉ News.

“We don’t know where these Spanish crews and these Spanish truck drivers have been.”This isn’t a fishing issue, this is a health issue and we will continue to block foreign vessels to protect the town,” he said.
The agent for the Spanish company Ricardo Ferriera said the trawler proceeded to Castletownbere to land the catch, and insisted they had been acting in accordance with Covid-19 restrictions.

However,  fishermen accused the authorities of turning a blind eye to what they claim are breaches of the regulations.

We got reports yesterday evening a foreign #fishing #trawler came into #castletownbere and 2 crew members left this #boat walked into the town and went into local supermarket, no checks, NO #harbourmaster,
We have recruited people on the ground to take photos from now on of this

— Fish Ireland (@fish_ireland) April 17, 2020