Irish fishermen say that a Spanish boat attempted to ram their vessel yesterday in Bantry Bay in what was seen as an attempt to intimidate Irish fishing vessels as tensions escalate around fishing rights off the Irish coast.
Fishermen called for The Sea Fisheries Protection Authority (SFPA) and the Naval Service to take action to protect Irish fishermen after the alleged attempt at ramming the Irish trawler.
“This was an attempt to force Irish boats off our own fishing grounds. It is intimidation. Our authorities must take action against this vessel acting extremely dangerously at sea and endangering life,” the Chief Executive of the Irish South and West Fish Producers’ Organisation, Patrick Murphy, said.
“It is appalling. This was a threat to life at sea, so action must be taken against the vessel which tried to do the ramming. The Spanish boat should be arrested and stopped from fishing in Irish waters.”
According to the Marine Times the incident was filmed by the crew of the Irish trawler, and the Irish skipper can be heard on radio telling the Spanish boat to ‘stay away from us.’
The SFPA confirmed to Afloat.ie that a Spanish-registered fishing vessel was “operating within the waters of Bantry Bay and therefore within Ireland’s 12-nautical mile limit” during the incident.
The Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority are aware of a situation that arose when a Spanish registered vessel was encountered by an Irish-registered vessel operating within the waters of Bantry Bay and therefore within the IRL 12-nautical mile limit. The situation continues to be closely monitored by the National Fisheries Monitoring Centre at the Naval Base, Haulbowline,” the SFPA said in a statement.
The incident happened on Friday in the wake of a major demonstration in Cork protesting at the huge quotas held by non-Irish EU vessels in Irish waters, while Irish fishermen say they are prevented from fishing and policed excessively.