FAIR play to the Naval Service ... but also to the Japanese. That was the view of fishermen in Castletownbere yesterday as the 70-metre Japanese tuna vessel, Minato Maru, was being escorted into west Cork by the LE Aisling for alleged breach of Ireland's 200-mile fishery limit.
There is little animosity. If anything, the mood in the Castletownbere is one of admiration and resignation at reports of 8.5 tonnes of fish on board the vessel - much, of it believed to be lucrative bluefin tuna - and enough catching gear to stretch from the Blaskets to the Aran islands. This longlining method involves setting lines for tens of miles, to which squid-baited hooks or "snoods" are attached at intervals. The detached gear is marked with radio beacons for later collection by the fishing vessels.
That a second Japanese ship had been detained yesterday by the LE Deirdre, and that up to 30 more were standing off the 200-mile limit, only heightened the reputation of the Land of the Rising Sun.
"Put it like this," explained Mr Mike Barnett of the Irish South and West Fishermen's Organisation. "If they were Irish boats out there, working legally of course, they'd be catching Ireland's most expensive fish." And his members would all be millionaires.
Which begs two questions. Why is an ocean-going fleet steaming thousands of miles across the world towards a small island in the northeast Atlantic? And where are the Irish boats'?
The first answer is straight-forward. A rising world demand for fish, a revolution in catching techniques, environmental concern and political ineptitude have combined to alter fishing patterns, with a consequent threat to some stocks.
Tuna, a migratory, temperature-dependent fish related to the mackerel, has long been a target for European, American and Asian fleets. There are several types: the albacore, which Spanish, French, Cornish and a few Irish boats have fished off the south-west, but which is the subject of politically-motivated restrictions; the yellowfin, the skipjack, bonito, and the most prized, the bluefin, which has been known to fetch five figure sums in a fresh state on the Tokyo fish market.
Water temperature dictates their geographical distribution, with some swimming as far north as Norway. There are several different methods of catching tuna. The most traditional method is trolling, whereby vessels have two hollow metal booms 12 metres long, each one is extended by eight-metre wooden poles set at a 30 - degree angle. Driftnetting, purse-seining and longlining methods are also applied. However, following international action to halt drift netting in the Pacific and declining catch levels, the fleet's of Taiwan, South Korea and Japan decided to switch their technique and look elsewhere.
Ireland is one of the new fishing areas identified by the Korean and Japanese. The Department of the Marine has confirmed that several requests have been made by their agents to fish in Irish waters on an exploratory basis. Japanese vessels have been using Cork and Galway as supply bases, but no fish have been landed.
Even if the Department was receptive, it could not entertain non EU vessels. Irish fishing grounds are ten times this island's land area, and 16 per cent of the EU pond. They are no longer sovereign. Since 1973, this has been common EU territory. Currently, the EU has no fishery agreement with Japan.
However, such an arrangement could be concluded in the future. Japan is an important market for EU fish - notably, Irish herring roe. Tuna is not under pressure here, and for centuries it has been a regular, largely unexploited, tourist through Irish waters. Occasional bluefin caught by Donegal mackerel boats have fetched high prices, but the Japanese have the expertise and the gear worth up to £30,000 in the case of the Minato Maru and the market. They even commission their own satellites to track the thermal currents in which the fish swim at high speed.
THE frustration of Irish skippers relates to the potential of the albacore tuna. This fishery was identified 30 years ago by one of Europe's leading fishermen, the Dane Christian Venoe, who said that it should be developed by Ireland. In 1967, US scientists appointed to investigate Ireland's marine resources by the late US president, John F Kennedy, reiterated this. Six years ago, Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM) initiated research involving Castletownbere vessels. By 1994 it was a £3 million seasonal boost to the south-west, engaging 20 boats.
That the Irish tuna fleet has dropped to a third of this, and that up to 700 Spanish boats and 150 French are working the stock off the south-west Irish coast, is due in large part to politics. Two years ago, a developing conflict with Spanish vessels using a different type of gear erupted in a "fish war" with the Irish and Cornish fleets. Greenpeace sent out the MV Solo to monitor the risk to dolphins.
The EU responded by setting a net length of 2.5 kilometres, which has been criticised by Britain and Ireland for its lack of a scientific base. Meanwhile, skippers here had been told to back off. In any case, the gear restriction had made the 700-mile steam uneconomic. Politics may also have influenced this week's pressure on the under-resourced Naval Service not to publicise its first Japanese arrest. But that, as they say, is another story.
