The Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources has said that, if provided with the evidence, it will investigate claims by fishermen of widespread illegal fishing in Irish waters by a fleet of Spanish-owned French vessels.
However, the Irish South and West Fishermen's Organisation (IS&WFO) says it has already given details of the situation on several occasions to the Department over the last year. The organsation says that lack of enforcement by the Irish authorities is attracting other EU vessels, which are using up to 100 miles of netting per boat and landing into Irish ports.
The small mesh size of the gear is illegal, and the IS&WFO says it has samples. "This is unregulated and is devastating hake and monk stocks," Mr Jason Whooley, chief executive of the IS&WFO, said.
"We know the areas where it is being used and the exact co-ordinates. This gear is destroying our stocks of hake and monkfish. We are blue in the face highlighting this with the Department, to no avail."
Most of the vessels are "flagships", as in Spanish-owned French vessels, and Mr Whooley says he knows that an additional 20 of these vessels are gearing up with their illegal gillnets to fish off the Irish coast. "Because of lack of enforcement here, these vessels see this fishery as a money-spinner," he said.
The vessels have been landing in over the past eight to 12 months into Dingle, Co Kerry, and Castletownbere, Co Cork. In some cases, the vessel-owners are using two sets of gear - for hake and monkfish respectively - and leaving one set of gear placed and marked at sea while they land their catch ashore.
"When the boat returns to the gear, it discards the old fish, keeping only the freshest," Mr Whooley said.
Irish boats had been very tightly regulated here, he said. "Gillnetting and its impact were not addressed in the recent proposals on the Common Fisheries Policy review.
"It demonstrates how out of touch the European Commission is with reality. Irish fishermen, with only 2.5 per cent of EU waters, are not creating the stock problem," Mr Whooley said.
