Millions of sardines are arriving in Irish waters - and a leading marine biologist wants us to take advantage.
In recent days, more than 100 tonnes of sardines were landed in Dingle Harbour by the boats Fiona KIII and The Ocean Venture II.
It comes in the wake of reports of warm water octopus on the south coast and a record-breaking haul of anchovies in Kerry in the past few weeks – all species normally found off southern Europe.
The director of Dingle OceanWorld, Kevin Flannery, said he is astounded by the sheer volumes of warm-water fish turning up on the Kerry coast.
“This is incredible”, he said. “This could change the whole ambit of fishing.
“It’s fascinating; you have these Mediterranean warm-water species arriving in huge volumes in Irish waters.
“We’ve had three specific species that could be commercially developed since Christmas which are anchovies, sardines and octopus.
“We’ve lost 25% of catches to the British in Brexit. But now all of a sudden, we have huge volumes of these non-quota species in inshore Irish waters. They are quota free because they are so short lived.
“I have to call on the State agencies and the Department of the Marine to take action because there is a resource and a potential.”
He said the marine agencies in Ireland need to develop the potential of the shoals upon shoals of Spanish fish arriving on our coasts.
“Bord Bia have to look at the markets, BIM have to look at what vessels can fish them, and the Marine Institute have to look at the potential.
“We need to look at what stock of them is there, how long will it last, where are they spawning and what’s the market for them.”
He said countries like Iceland are developing new fisheries.
“Iceland took it upon themselves when they found there was mackerel coming in there and they are taking over 100,000 tonnes per year.
“I can’t see why we can’t look at the potential of anchovies and sardines and develop a fishery.
“For 40 years, I’ve been doing this and now we have this, it’s a huge resource and it has to be managed sustainably.”
