Fish Stocks

Fishing Vessel

Ireland ’s coastal and marine waters continue to provide significant quantities of fish as shown in the graph.  The big concern, however, is the sustainability of this level of exploitation with many fish species being fished to dangerously low levels.  If too many fish are removed there will be insufficient numbers left to renew fish stocks.  There is now concern about the levels of herring, mackerel and whiting in open waters while, closer to the seabed, the levels of cod are so low as to be close to total collapse.  

To compensate for this decline, fishing fleets have been catching fish in deeper waters but many of these fish, such as ling, halibut and orange roughy, live for long periods and so are slow to reproduce.  Thus they are also in danger of being overfished.

Over-exploitation of our fisheries resources remains a significant environmental problem for Ireland .   The graph below shows the volume and value of sea fish landed in Killybegs from 2003 to 2009.   In 2009 the landings at Killybegs accounted for 100,000 tonnes, which is approximately 45% of the total fish landed by Irish vessels at Irish ports.

Aquaculture

In 2009 over 53,000 tonnes of fish (shellfish and finfish ) were produced by the Irish aquaculture industry.  The risks posed by this industry to the environment relate mainly to waste deposits around fish cages, chemical use, sea lice infestation and escape and interbreeding with wild species.

Overall there is little evidence of damage to sea waters as many cages are located in areas with good water flushing.  Also the level of fish-farm escapes is low in comparison to other countries but sea lice continues to be a problem. Levels in 2007 were   the highest for twelve years but decreased in 2008 and 2009.