Save our Sprat campaigners in Bantry Bay are calling for a moratorium on sprat fishing until a stock assessment is carried out, and a sustainable management plan put in place for sprat fishery.
Campaigners gathered yesterday in the town square to highlight their ongoing concerns ahead of the sprat spawning season.
This comes after the Government indicated its intention to prohibit trawling activity by fishing vessels over 18 metres in inshore waters inside the six nautical mile zone from October 2026.
The gathering was addressed by Social Democrates TD Jennifer Whitmore who is calling for an amendment to the Wild Life Act to protect sprat for a period of time.
She said the Government is bringing in a ban on larger boats but "the question for us now is what is going to happen to the smaller boats and how much will they actually fish".
"Even if the ban isn't put in place for the entire fishery, it is really, really important that data is collected by the Marine Institute," she said.
In July, the Government announced that the industrial fishing of sprat, a keystone marine species, is to be banned in inshore waters from October 2026.
Sprat are a small but vital forage fish and an important food source for larger fish, seabirds, dolphins and whales.
