The chairman of the European Fish Producers Organisation has said the Government must understand that coastal communities will die unless the fishing industry is given immediate attention.
At a demonstration by fishermen at Cork Airport, Sean O'Donoghue, who is also chief executive of Killybegs Fishing Organisation, said that they wanted to draw public attention to a huge level of cheap imports, which the EU was allowing from outside Europe at a time when European fishermen were in serious difficulty.
Fine Gael Spokesman on Fisheries Michael Credd who was at the demonstration said that there were serious social problems facing the coastal areas but they were not being mentioned in any Government statements.
The fishermen will sell fish at Dunmore East, Killybegs and Eyre Square in Galway, for the same amount they receive for their catches.
There has been no affect on flights or passengers.
One of the biggest co-ops in the country at Castletownbere says Irish people do not realise that a lot of the fish they are being sold, in places like fish and chip shops, are cheap imports from southeast Asia and Africa.
The federation has called on Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Brendan Smith to introduce import controls checking that fish being brought into Ireland have been legally caught.
