Fish numbers in Waterford Harbour are being decimated by a dredging operation which is the latest in a series of assaults on their livelihoods, local fishermen claim.
Silt collected in the inner harbour is being dumped at the mouth of the estuary near Dunmore East, causing the destruction of fisheries and spawning grounds, the fishermen allege.
Their claims are strongly denied by Waterford Harbour Commissioners, who say the two-month dredging programme is being implemented to the highest standards under licence from the Department of the Marine and Natural Resources.
The harbour authority also disputes the fishermen's claim that there was no consultation about the operation which, the fishermen say, is being carried out at the worst possible time.
"There are times of the year when dredging would not be so catastrophic for us," says Mr Sean Doherty, a fisherman based in Cheekpoint, "but this has come slap bang in the middle of our season and it just shows they have no interest in consultation or in the people who are trying to make a living here."
Mr Doherty claims the dwindling number of fishermen in the harbour is being sacrificed in the interests of the overall development of Waterford port.
"The grounds that we fish and that our forefathers handed down to us are worth an awful lot of money for portal development. We're being squeezed out and in five years time there'll be no one left here.
"The only feeling people will have about the river in five years time will be total bitterness towards the Department of the Marine and the harbour board [Commissioners] over the way we've been treated."
Mr John Butler, deputy general manager of Waterford Harbour Commissioners, accepts there is a "certain conflict" between the need for ongoing development of the port and the requirements of local fishermen, "but it would be untrue to say that one is happening with total disregard for the other," he says.
The threat to economic life at Cheekpoint has been evident since the new portal facility at Belview, a short distance upriver, was opened in 1993. As part of that development, a series of groynes (constructions to prevent erosion) was built out into the Barrow from Cheekpoint village, to ensure a permanent depth of six metres for shipping traffic.
While achieving its main aim, this had the side-effect of causing a build up of silty sand at the entrance to Cheekpoint harbour, causing access difficulties for local fishermen. Since then they have been at loggerheads with the harbour commissioners as to how best to deal with the problem.
The harbour authority says the licence for the current dredging programme was granted on foot of an environmental impact assessment which involved a lengthy consultation process with about 30 local interest groups, including fishermen.
Mr Doherty and other fishermen in Cheekpoint, who work as individuals and are not members of any organisation or co-operative, say the first they knew about the operation was when they saw the dredger begin its work about three weeks ago. Mr Tom Fewer of the Dunmore East Fishermen's Co-op says he was notified about the EIA last October. He wrote back to the Harbour Commissioners on November 4th saying he looked forward to receiving the completed report, but has heard nothing since.
The Cheekpoint fishermen say eel numbers in the inner harbour are severely depleted as a result of the dredging, while the silt is being dumped too close to spawning grounds and to a lobster hatchery at the mouth of the estuary.
Mr Butler of the Harbour Commissioners denies this, pointing out that the dredger has a "marine position recorder" which identifies the exact location where silt is being dumped.
The whole process was monitored by the Department of the Marine and Natural Resources and there could no question of the dredger not going far enough out to sea, as the fishermen were alleging.
