Dublin Protest:More than 50 Atlantic vessels, fog horns blaring and festooned with flags and banners, made an impressive spectacle as they sailed up the Liffey and through the raised East-Link bridge yesterday morning.
Having gathered in Dublin Bay overnight, the vessels were just visible from first light as a disturbingly war-like flotilla moored off Howth. As 11am approached, the first five of the vessels - some rising several storeys above water level - made their way to the East-Link bridge which had been opened in expectation of their arrival.
Motorists delayed by the bridge's opening were in remarkably high spirits, and many left their vehicles to watch the trawlers past.
Some drivers waving back as fishermen on the vessels sounded horns and pointed to banners proclaiming "We're not criminals".
Caught in the queue was Laura Dunne from Dún Laoghaire, who was taking her car across to the north quays for a service. "It's cool. I've never actually seen the bridge open before so it's quite exciting," she said.
As the cacophony of fog horns built up, cyclist Peter Daly from Ballybough was happy to wait for the bridge to be lowered.
"I don't really know anything about the fishermen's protest," he said, adding that he did not really mind how long he was delayed. "I'll be here until I can go on again anyway."
By 11.20am the bridge was already closing as the fifth vessel emerged on its city side. Motorcyclist Karl Martini from Sandyford was returning to his motorbike. "I'm a network engineer and
I do all my support calls on my motorbike so I've only been here about five minutes."
As the Western Viking, a €10 million modern trawler docked at the city quays, owner Frank Doherty explained the protest had only cost him the fuel to get to Dublin. "We are only allowed to fish 139 days, so the vessel would have been laid up anyway."
He said fishermen were facing the confiscation of vessels for infringements of the new regulations. These, he said, were more stringent than those in any other EU country.
"This perception is going around that we are terrible people that want to suck the last fish out of the sea. It is not in our interest to suck the last fish out of the sea; or even the second last fish in the sea".
Mr Doherty compared the regulations to those governing farming, and said "if a farmer infringes the rules they don't take his farm off him".