Fishermen threaten to block Irish ports

Updated: 13:20, Thursday, 26 August 2010

Irish fishermen are threatening to blockade Irish ports in a dispute over mackerel quotas with Iceland and the Faro Islands.

1 of 1 Mackerel Fishermen angry over quotas
Mackerel
Fishermen angry over quotas

Sean O'Donoghue of the Killybegs Fishermen's Organisation said today that his members are very angry and are not willing to tolerate the current situation.

Both Iceland and Faroese have set autonomous mackerel quotas of 130,000 tonnes and 85,000 tonnes respectively.

The KFO claims that these additional quotas are almost 40% above the scientific advice and are depleting the stocks and undermining the market for Irish fishermen.

Irish fishermen's organisations are asking the European Union to impose sanctions in an attempt to get the quotas reduced.

The Killebegs Fishermen's Organisation and the Donegal Fish Merchants Association have said that they will not accept mackerel from Faroese and Icelandic vessels into their processing plants.

Mr O'Donoghue said that they will do whatever is necessary to stop any landings into Killybegs including blockading the port to stop Icelandic or Faroese vessels off-loading their catches of mackerel.

Live Player

  • Next
  • 04:30 - 05:05

    Prime Time

  • 08:05 - 08:15

    news2day

  • Later
  • 13:00 - 13:25

    RTÉ News: One O'Clock and Weather

  • 13:00 - 13:45

    RTÉ Radio - News at One (Studio Webcam)