Nothing prepares you for the risk on board a large working trawler. Everywhere you look on a fishing boat there is a potential accident. You can easily slip overboard as the sea tosses you around like a cork.
You could be walloped by one of the innumerable steel ropes and hooks that are the essential equipment of fishing. You could slip and crack your skull. A rogue wave could come along and sweep you away.
To the uninitiated, a trawler seems like a workplace death trap.
Take it from me. I spent six days on the Northern Celt, a Greencastle, Co Donegal, trawler, fishing for whiting, cod and haddock in the Celtic Sea. We zigzagged through Irish and British waters with abandon. That's allowed. We are all in European waters, after all.
Bumps and bruises happen all the time. I lost count of the number of times I slipped, banged my elbow or my head. While doing some filming on deck during a gale, I had to literally tape myself to a pole. Otherwise, I felt I might have been swept overboard.
But there’s a different type of risk that Irish fishermen have had to come to terms with since the British voted for Brexit in 2016 — the risk to their livelihoods it may bring. Yes, it’s the 'B' word again.
Irish fishermen catch at least 40% of their catch in British waters. Why? Because Britain is a pretty big island and has the largest share of European waters. We have been fishing there for centuries and, in fairness, British fishermen have fished in our waters for as long as people have recorded their fishing.
Closing these waters to Irish fishermen would be really damaging. More than 90% of the value of our mackerel is sourced from British waters and around 40% of the value of our prawns. These are key species for Ireland. They are also key to our seafood industry, which is worth at least €1.2bn.
Head of the Killybegs Fishermens Organisation (KFO), Sean O'Donoghue, reckons Ireland could lose 3,000 to 4,000 jobs and lose half of the value of its seafood industry in a worst-case Brexit scenario.
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The worst case is a crash-out, no-deal Brexit. But other forms of Brexit could have a similar effect. If, for example, the UK left with a minimal deal that didn’t continue the current system of shared fishing waters and strict quotas, the effect would be felt deeply in vulnerable fishing communities.
Not only would a huge portion of the waters in which Irish fishermen traditionally fished be closed to them, those waters would also be closed to the rest of the entire EU fleet, many of whom would inevitably move into Irish waters, putting more pressure on space – and stocks.
They won't take it lying down. Threats to blockade ports and disrupt general shipping appear to be heartfelt. If French fishermen blockade the Channel ports, Irish fishermen say they will consider doing the same in Irish ports.
"For Ireland's fishermen, these are the risks they face every day. At least they understand those risks and train and prepare for them. This new risk is truly outside of their control"
Already, the Foyle Fishermen’s Co-op is getting ready for a raft of new bureaucracy in this and other scenarios. When fish are landed, for example, they would have to get an inspector up from Killybegs or Sligo to certify their catch. They will have to give 24 hours’ notice. That means waiting around for a whole day.
Then there are the potential further delays at all the British border crossings between Greencastle (where they land their fish) and their main markets in England or Europe.
"Really its delay upon delay. I mean literally an hour ago I was talking to our buyer in Grimsby arranging the sale of this shipment today. That’s just confirmed an hour ago, so we have a lorry here ready to go, but that’s the kind of notice we have in a fresh market like this. We need to go where the best prices are," according to Conor McCourt, manager at the co-op, who fears their business will be in jeopardy.
"A no deal Brexit would be calamitous for the fishing industry" @creedcnw tells @RTE_PrimeTime pic.twitter.com/tjP1uCtAnR
— Fran McNulty (@franmcnulty) October 15, 2019
It is, perhaps, the only area in the whole Brexit debate where the British feel they have the upper hand. They have the waters and they have the fish. Brexiteers have consistently pointed to their waters as one of the biggest 'wins’ they can get from exiting the European Union.
The hope of Irish fishermen (and their colleagues around Europe) is that the negotiators in the Brexit process can use the leverage they have in other areas to engineer gains in the fishing arena. That’s the hope. But there are no guarantees.
We all live with risk. As I peeled the off the tape and crawled down from the top of the trawler, I was acutely aware of my own very short brush with the risk of the sea. For Ireland’s fishermen and their dependents, these are the risks they face every day. At least they understand those risks and train and prepare for them. This new risk is truly outside of their control.
