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In its write-up for the series, RTÉ said its creators "ate, slept, breathed and fished with our skippers while they were out on the high seas in the world's most dangerous job, creating a sense of immediacy with the audience at home; bringing the action, and turmoil wave by wave, roll by roll".

However, Ken Fleming the International Transport Workers Federation's (ITF) inspector in Ireland said there were glaring omissions in the programme's contents. He said all the vessels covered in the programme had foreign crew members.

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Speaking to local fishermen in Cromane Community Centre, the Minister said he had sought details from the fisheries boards as to how a commercial fishery could be managed in a sustainable manner.

"It is important that stocks are not over-exploited while at the same time maximizing the opportunities for commercial fishing," he said.

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Making the case for a ban on the international bluefin trade in a country that earns £87m a year from supplying sushi to Japan was always going to be like telling the barnyard cats that mice were off the menu.

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The campaigners, who are supported by Henry Gilbey, presenter of the Discovery Channel's angling shows, says a proposed reversal of a 1980 law could threaten Ireland's reputation as one of Europe's best locations for "bass tourism".

The elusive fish was on the verge of extinction before 1980 but stocks have improved since the ban was introduced. Anglers claim that the conservation efforts have resulted in visits from thousands of fishing enthusiasts every year. Failte Ireland, the tourism body, is also calling for the prohibition to remain. It estimates bass sport-fishing is worth €8m a year to the economy.

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Plans to re-open the Lagan Canal to navigation could threaten key wildlife species that now thrive in the waterway, anglers have warned. When the canal was abandoned in the 1950s, wild salmon and trout that had thrived in the River Lagan before parts of it were canalised in the 1800s began returning to spawn. But the salmon and trout fisheries that now thrive there could be threatened if the canal is restored to navigation, according to Iveagh Angling Club.

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They say that "illegal activity on rivers has increased due to the recession as people have more time on their hands". There is also a "tradition of poaching" in some rural locations where people believe they have "the right" to harvest and sell the fish.

Authorities are dismayed by recent evidence of the illegal "lamping" of salmon (the use of powerful bright lights to stun the fish), a practice more traditionally associated with hunting rabbits.

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The agreement followed compromise proposals from Swedish agriculture and fisheries minister Eskil Erlandsson, chair of the talks as part of Sweden's rotating presidency of the EU.

The deal allows Irish fishermen to fish for the equivalent of 65 per cent of the 2009 mackerel quota next month, pending the resumption in January of stalled talks between the EU and Norway over the overall mackerel quota.

The cod quota remains unchanged, in spite of a European Commission proposal to cut it by 30 per cent - and a 20 per cent cut that was cited at the outset of the ministers' negotiation.

The prawn quota drops by 9 per cent, a reduction that contrasts with 30 per cent mooted at the start of the negotiation and the 47 per cent cut proposed by the commission.

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Five skippers who are accused of 80 charges of under-reporting catches and making false log entries were in court to have a date fixed for the book of evidence. Prosecutions were brought by the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation.

The summonses were adjourned to January 25th.
(c) Irish Times 24.1..09

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THE FUTURE of one of Europe's finest wild salmon and trout habitats has been threatened by "environmental vandalism", according to the Western Regional Fisheries Board

It is investigating the "deliberate introduction" of predatory pike into several lakes on the Owenriff river system near Oughterard, Co Galway.

A significant number of juvenile pike have been found in two lakes upstream of Lough Corrib which had provided a haven for salmon and trout.

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FISHERMEN can lose their licences permanently and countries will lose their fish quota if they persistently break the rules.

As a result of major new penalties agreed by EU countries recreational fishing will be monitored for the first time, with anglers having to report any catches of species under severe threat, such as cod and blue fin tuna.

The EU's 25-year-old common fish policy has failed to conserve fish stocks, despite huge amounts of money and lots of regulation. The European Court of Auditors blamed this partly on poor control and enforcement of the rules by member states.

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Claims that foreign fleets have taken €200 billion worth of fish out of the Irish seas since the country joined the EU were completely wrong, Sean O'Donoghue of the Killybegs Fishermen's Organisation said.

"I have researched it, and those figures should have been challenged long ago," he said adding that the sum was a fraction of that.

An independent study carried out by the Canadian University of British Columbia in Vancouver as part of the Sea Around Us project puts the total value of fish taken from Irish waters from 1974 to 2004 at €8.5bn. During this time, Irish ships took €3.9bn from the Irish waters and €3.16bn from British waters that Irish boats have access to because they are part of the EU.

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