fishermen

When he finished school, Darragh McGuinness knew he wanted to join a fishing crew. But now, at 23, he fears climate change will kill an industry that supported his family for generations.

“It’s a massive problem,” he says from the cabin of the Atlantic Challenge trawler, where he works as a deckhand, which is docked in Killybegs in north-west Ireland. “It can end fishing, at least in Ireland,” he adds.

Rising temperatures in the North Atlantic Ocean during the summer months raise fears that fish will migrate to cooler waters, adding to problems for a struggling sector.

In late July, the National Office for Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced that the average surface temperature in the North Atlantic had reached a new high of 24.9ºC.

The Atlantic Challenge, like many vessels that sail from Killybegs, fishes for blue whiting and mackerel, which are highly valued on the international market. She returns to port one or two days after the capture to keep the product fresh.

“It’s just worrying that this pushes us too far north and then it wouldn’t be feasible to go back to Killybegs,” explains McGuinness.

Sean O’Donoghue, chief executive of the Killybegs Fishermen’s Organization, says climate change is having a “dramatic effect” on schools of white fish such as cod, which prefer cooler waters.

“Matter of time”

AFP

During June, experts detected an “extreme” marine heat wave off the coasts of Ireland and the United Kingdom

O’Donoghue fears it is “only a matter of time” before so-called pelagic fish such as mackerel, blue whiting and herring move north permanently.

“If the warming of the water continues, it is inevitable that pelagic species will completely leave these waters. And we could end up with very few fish,” he says.

The Icelandic fleet, further north, is increasingly catching more mackerel, while the Irish are catching more anchovies or sardines, common fish in warmer waters further south, he says.

The July record is particularly disturbing as it occurs weeks before September, when the North Atlantic typically reaches its peak temperature.

In June, NOAA detected an “extreme” marine heat wave off the coasts of Ireland and the United Kingdom.

Glenn Nolan, who heads the oceanographic and climate services at the Irish Marine Institute, explains that that month had “significant” temperatures, 4 or 5°C above normal for the country’s summer coast.

Temperatures of up to 24.5ºC, “as we have seen in some coastal bays around County Galway, are well above what we would expect from normal,” he says.

The expert prefers to wait for a specific study already commissioned to attribute the rise in temperatures in June and July to climate change.

Problems since Brexit

The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has for decades attributed the intensity of these marine heat waves to global warming, it says.

“The IPCC has already observed marine heat waves in general and they are very convinced that they can attribute them to human-caused climate change,” he says.

Nolan explains that these elevated temperatures create conditions for fish migration and warm-water algae blooms that cause “problems for shellfish and fish.”

The Irish fleet is already suffering the consequences of the loss of European Union (EU) fishing quotas after Brexit, the United Kingdom’s exit from the bloc consummated at the end of 2020.

This EU member country conceded a 15% cut in fishing quotas in 2025 under a last-minute trade agreement signed between London and Brussels.

“Unfortunately, the deal that was made hit Ireland disproportionately,” says O’Donoghue.

“Its net effect is that Ireland is paying 40% of the transfer of fish to the UK,” he says.

The head of the Killybegs organization expects changes to EU fisheries policy that reflect the impact of Brexit on the Irish fleet and mitigate the effects of climate change on their catches.

“We are not satisfied with how things are in the Common Fisheries Policy right now. It must change and take Brexit and climate change into account”, claims O’Donoghue.

(With information from AFP)

2023-08-18 08:02:39
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