Sir, - A little softness even for those who would rob us? The Japanese tuna fishermen taken by our Navy were, at least, using long lines rather than lethal nets which suffocate countless dolphins annually.
The long lines take some baiting! As thousands of barbed hooks pay out mercilessly to the water, skin and blood can all too easily go with them. Using them is a dangerous, cold and highly skilled job. But, for the most part, the bait catches what it is intended to catch, thereby removing a source of species destruction or food spoilage.
Those who fish for specific species have no room in their holds or in their hearts for anything less valuable in the marketplace. The US shrimp boats can destroy three or four times the weight of what they land, and here at home prawn fishermen in the Irish Sea wreak havoc on young demersal fish, such as cod. Destruction joins with overfishing to bring the species into decline and reduce the fisherman's income.
The quota system is the most favoured management response to overfishing. But as fines increase to make it more effective, fishermen will still run the gaunt let and dump large quantities on the ocean bed, as the law approaches with its draconian measures. The FAO estimates that all dumping combined comes to 25m tonnes annually - quite a lot, when only 80m or 90m tonnes are landed.
The Japanese within our limits, or on the High Seas outside them, were there to catch what could be eaten and the shoals of dolphins around our coast would not die wantonly at their hands. If that counts for something, Ireland will not have gone in vain to Rio in 1992. But if the Japanese moved in, we should be in trouble. They take over nine million tonnes annually worldwide, dwarfing the Spanish fleet, our old friends in these waters who take less than 1.5 million tonnes.
The Irish Navy served not only Ireland and Europe but the nations of the world who, through the United Nations Law of the Sea Convention (UNCLOS 1982), gave us new territory in the exclusive economic zone (FEZ), but also the duty of managing it. In doing so, we must distinguish those who rob without destroying from those who would gladly do both. - Yours, etc.,
Waterville,
Co Kerry.