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Greencastle skipper fears the
worst
18.11.08
“This will finish me”
GERRY Gill has been fishing out of Greencastle port
in Co Donegal for 40 years. He has never seen things
so bad.
If the EU Commission's proposed ban on whitefish
fishing in the North West (Area 6) is carried, he
says he "is finished" as a fisherman. As the skipper
of the smallest trawler in Greencastle's whitefish
fleet, he will be unable to travel further south to
make his living.
"Nobody is listening to us," said the 57 year-old.
Our industry is finished, especially here on the
North West coast. If the ban comes in, that's me
finished too. I have a 26-year old son fishing with
me and his future in the industry will be over as
well." The father-of-three describes the EU's quota
system as "a farce". |
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He says he feels
demoralised having to dump hundreds of kilos of fish
at sea every fishing trip, to comply with quota
regulations.
"We have been dumping between 200 and 300 kilos of
cod every trip since around June. It's a disgrace
when you see half the world starving. It makes me
sick to dump good food onto the seabed."
Gerry and his three-person |
crew have only managed
to undertake around six fishing trips in the last
three months, mainly due to the weather.
"We can't get the weather to fish the Stanton Banks
(about 70 –100 miles north of Inishowen Head)
because my boat is too small to fish there at this
time of year."
But he finds himself "between a rock and a hard
place" because, while fishing has become less
profitable for him, he cannot get out of the
industry because his 25-year old Dingle-built
trawler, 'Paul Stephen', doesn't qualify for the
boat decommissioning scheme.
"I've been turned down twice for the scheme because
my vessel is just under the 18 metre size limit - at
17.2 metres," he said. On his most recent five-day
trip, which cost him €3,000 in expenses, he says he
only managed to break even. And because the Area 6
cod quota was met around June, he was also forced to
dump 300 kilos of cod overboard on his last trip.
"All we can take now is squid, ray, plaice, lemon
sole and a few haddock. All of these are scarce and
there's not enough to make up for the loss of the
cod."
The veteran skipper, whose home overlooks
Greencastle harbour, says he is currently living off
his savings and is having "sleepless nights"
worrying about the future of his livelihood. "It's a
lot of stress mentally and physically. You still
have to pay your bills and keep the house going." |
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