Trawling off Rosslare strand

clawback07

Hi there
I was in Rosslare strand today and on parking in the carpark the first thing I noticed was a strong smell of rotten fish being carried on the wind . On walking on to the beach the answer to the smell was very apparent in the form of dead clams , cockles and razor fish , the majority being clams .Not in their thousands but I would safely say hundreds of thousands if not in millions . In places they were banked up to a depth of half a meter . First assumptions would lead one to believe they were up rooted by recent storms .How any creature could sustain a viable population in the face of such vast losses must be a cause for concern .
However a couple of miles off shore there was a large vessel which looked like a small freighter heading for the ferry port until it swung around and sailed back and forth across the bay as if dredging the sea bed.Unfortunately I didn't have binoculars to confirm this but it was definitely a commercial vessel involved in a form of industrial fishing
One cannot help thinking that between storms and sea bed trawling that these shellfish and their future is being seriously jeopardised .

BoltzmannBrain

We can only hope it was some once of storm issue that cause that but seeing the ship out there makes you think.

Only yestererday the Irish Wildlife Trust was calling for pair trawling ban, which according to them is happening in quite close to the shore.

http://coastmonkey.ie/news/pair-trawling-ban/

But there is no doubt if we don't treat the environment better, we're just screwing ourselves in the long term.

Pisspoor

Hi Clawback07
Interesting event. My initial thoughts were that a trawler fishing for shellfish wouldn't be likely to dump such a valuable catch. I've posted an enquiry on my Facebook page, and will share any feedback I get.
It would be worth sharing your info with the local fisheries inspectors (Inland fisheries Ireland - IFI). It's probably too late for them to do anything about last Sunday, but they should be able to advise you on what was likely happening. Also, it will give them valuable information if they think something illegal is going on.
We are currently experiencing extremely calm sea conditions, and I can't remember when we last had a significant storm. Bear in mind, mere gales wouldn't cause the level of destruction you described.

Regards

Peter.

ted1

You can down load marine traffic from the App Store , it'll give you details on the boat based on its AIS

tricky D

It's very likely this dredger: http://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details/ships/shipid:255239/mmsi:244990000/imo:7711062/vessel:SOSPAN_DAU which has been operating in the same area recently.

Shellfish dredging is only licenced for a few months and I'm pretty sure it would be out of those periods at the moment. Haven't seen any operations around my area of late.

That said, what would be a concern is there might be shellfish, mussels most likely, which get relaid in Wexford Harbour to detox. For example the ones dredged off Howth aren't of high enough quality due to local sewage at Rush and environs, so they get relaid in Wexford or Strangford for a few months to filter out any toxins and after that only the French and Japanese will take them. Can't imagine dredging and detoxing being good bedfellows so I'd be surprised if this hasn't been factored in to the dredging time window.

clawback07

Many thanks for all your informative replies .
I believe that is the vessel that I saw on Sunday and if it is then I withdraw my belief that it was involved in trawling .However it was sailing back and forth as I stated across the bay and well outside the ferry lanes . I am not qualified to state that its' activities resulted in the devastation to be seen on Rosslare Strand but one has to ask what condition the sea bed is in two or three kilometres off the shore .
One cannot help feeling that if it was a fish kill on the same scale it would be a headline story. I would love to be able to say I was exaggerating the scale of the loss of sea life that I saw on Sunday but it was incredible to say the least
Thanks again to everyone .

vicwatson

Any pics ?

clawback07

Hi Vic Watson
Unfortunately no , my phone isn't great , not to mention my ability to upload photos ! From a distance the beach appeared to be covered in grey and white stones , as far as the eye could see and particularly towards the ferry port end of the beach where as I previously stated they were piled up to a half meter in depth for the entire width of the beach . I don't think a photo would have done justice to the scale of this event .

Jim Martin

Would be well worth mentioning to the Irish Wildlife Trust, also 'Coastwatch'
.

clawback07

Hi Jim
I will do that .As Pisspoor suggested earlier I contacted I.f.i earlier in the week and have not received a reply . I am an odd person and if I don't receive a reply from a State body it galls me and encourages me to pursue the matter to get some form of response !!
I know the damage has been done but I am quite prepared to contact any body that can help prevent a reoccurrence .

vicwatson

This is the vessel, Sospan Dau, and what it does (not taken at Rosslare)

clawback07

Hi all
Just to let you know , I e mailed the I.F.I twice about the above incident and have received absolutely no response from them to date .Mind you , I also e mailed the I.W.T about it and they have not replied either . One cannot help thinking that if it had been a large school of dolphins washed up they would all be on the band wagon by now ...

vicwatson

Article in local paper said it was the weather that washed them up onto the beach

Pisspoor

clawback07 wrote: »

Hi all
Just to let you know , I e mailed the I.F.I twice about the above incident and have received absolutely no response from them to date .Mind you , I also e mailed the I.W.T about it and they have not replied either . One cannot help thinking that if it had been a large school of dolphins washed up they would all be on the band wagon by now ...

That's very frustrating to not even get an acknowledgement from these bodies. They are always asking us to report these things to them. Typical Irish public bodies - strong on ideal, brutal on real time provision of service.
Well done for sticking with it though!
Peter.

Jim Martin

Pisspoor wrote: »

That's very frustrating to not even get an acknowledgement from these bodies. They are always asking us to report these things to them. Typical Irish public bodies - strong on ideal, brutal on real time provision of service.
Well done for sticking with it though!
Peter.

'clawback07'

I find that I usually get a response from the IWT when I post items on their Facebook page, I suggest you should try that! I do confess to being a member so whether that makes any difference, I'm not sure!

Tabnabs

Might be worth contacting SFPA also

Local communities play a vital role in protecting our fisheries resources and ensuring that bad practices or illegal fishing activities are effectively addressed. With this in mind the SFPA have introduced a confidential telephone line: 1890 76 76 76. We encourage anyone who is aware of any suspect activity to contact us on this number with the relevant information.

or http://www.sfpa.ie/AboutUs/Contacts.aspx