Romantics may still be drawn to it, but the pull of the sea is no longer so attractive to this island's rising generation. A serious labour shortage within the fishing and fish farming industries is to be addressed by a task force established by the Government this week.
The task force, which has been set up by the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources, Dr Woods, aims to examine training and employment in both sectors and to report back by next June. It will be led by Mr Pat Keating, retired director of the Irish Aviation Authority, and a former senior civil servant in the Department of the Marine.
Mr Keating is also a qualified marine surveyor and was instrumental in establishing the Irish Marine Emergency Service. He was also a member of the Doherty group on search and rescue which recommended the stationing of a medium-range helicopter at Shannon 10 years ago yesterday. The task force will examine human resources, employment conditions within both fishing and aquaculture, safety, and the sectoral area "from the sea to the table", in terms of the situation on the deck of a boat and in a processing factory.
It comes after repeated warnings from industry organisations about the crisis facing boat owners; in the south-west, for instance, Spaniards are regularly employed on Irish vessels, while one Kerry processing factory said this week that it was recruiting Kosovar refugees.
