The future of fisheries on Ireland's offshore islands

It is often over-looked that scattered around the coast of Ireland are a large number of offshore islands - many inhabited, others visited periodically to tend livestock and manage the land. Concentrations of these islands are to be found in Clew Bay, counties Galway and Mayo, and around the indented coastline of the southwest of Ireland in counties Kerry and Cork. The biggest offshore islands are to be found in Galway Bay, and off the coast of county Donegal.

Long a bastion of gaelic culture and language, and retaining traditions and social structures through the forces of hardship, resource scarcity and isolation, the people and culture of these islands are revered on the one hand as examplars of "Irishness" whilst ignored on the other hand when they seek access to the same standards of living as people on the mainland aspire to.

Aside from tourism, fishing provides the only other main source of revenue generation for islanders, yet their good stewardship of the marine environment seems to get scant recognition when it comes to establishing rules for coastal (and island) fisheries, and providing financial support for the sustaining of island employment and economy. In an effort to counter this peripheralisation of their interests, the Irish Islands Federation commissioned two studies - one for the Gaelic speaking islands and one for the English speaking islands - to summarise the state of fishing associated with the islands, future potential, and development priorities. The first of these studies was undertaken by Nautilus in association with Merc Consultants (Crick Carleton, Nick Pfeiffer and Louise Scanlon), the second by Merc Consultants (Nick Pfeiffer).

In addition to this work, Crick Carleton was also contracted to prepare a submission to the Irish CFP Review Secretariat, high-lighting some of the management and development issues specific to offshore islands, and requesting that these interests be reflected in the response of the Irish government to the European Commission's CFP review process.