Less than a week after a Danish vessel turned around and left the port of Killybegs in a row over the weighing of fish, a Norwegian vessel has left the port for the same reason.
This time the Norwegian vessel, the Ingrid Majala, headed for Derry to unload its catch of blue whiting and have it transported by road back to Killybegs for processing.
The row centres on the way blue whiting is weighed. To preserve its quality and keep it fit for human consumption, fish processors say it has to be weighed with chilled water, and if it's not, then fragile fish are squashed on top of each other and become fit only for fish meal.
When the Ruth left Killybegs last Thursday, 64 seasonal workers at Sean Ward Fish Exporters were left without work.
Yesterday, 54 staff were sent home when the Ingrid Majala left the port. However, they were at work this afternoon after the catch was brought back to Killybegs from Derry in up to 40 truck loads.
Skipper of the Ingrid Majala Jan Andre said inspectors asked him to take the water off the fish but, he said, that would make it unfit for human consumption.
Mr Andre said he lands fish all over Europe, in Iceland and Norway, and there is never a problem.
"It's a crazy situation," he said, "I can't understand it."
When the Ingrid Majala docked in Foyle Port in Derry this morning, Kenny Ward of Sean Ward Fish Exporters was waiting on the dockside with trucks lined up ready to take the fish back to his factory in Killybegs for processing and export to places like Africa and Ukraine.
Mr Ward said they were left with no option but to bring the fish by road back to Killybegs at huge extra cost, time and labour, something his company cannot sustain.
CEO of the Irish Fish Processors and Exporters Association Brendan Byrne said the situation has now become farcical.
"Ireland is an equal member of the European Union, and as such we abide by the same rule book and regulations as all other member states. Had the Norwegian vessel 'Ingrid Majala' attempted to land in France, Belgium, Spain or any other EU coastal state, they would have been permitted to do so and furthermore the integrity and quality of their fish catch would be preserved and the catch would enter the food chain."
Fish processors in Killybegs say the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority (SFPA) is over-interpreting EU rules to the detriment of the industry here.
Mr Byrne said that Killybegs is at a critical juncture, the town is suffering and approximately 30% to 35% of the blue whiting season has been sacrificed because of the situation.
The SFPA said that a core part of its regulatory function is to ensure compliance with the EU Common Fisheries Policy to safeguard sustainable fishing stocks in Irish and European waters. This includes ensuring compliance with the interim Fisheries Control Plan.
This plan, it says, was approved by the European Commission and aims "to ensure control systems are adequate to address significant concerns regarding inaccurate weighing of catches, particularly by operators landing bulk pelagic catches to Ireland, which resulted in the EU Commission's revoking of Ireland's weighing-after-transport Control Plan in April 2021".
The SFPA said that yesterday it offered two options to the Norwegian vessel - the use of an industry-owned pierside device to separate water from fish and weigh on the weighbridge, or to weigh on the weighbridge without using the industry-owned pierside device.
However, Mr Byrne said both those options would have involved de-watering the fish and would not have preserved the integrity of the catch.
Mr Byrne and Mr Ward called for political intervention by the Government to "stop this madness".
