The collapse of fish stocks and the decline in the once prolific sport is being laid at the door of the trawler fleets and angling competitions, which once attracted up to 400 competitors, are now barely worth holding.
According to Gary Gregg of the Irish Federation of Sea Anglers, quoted in The Belfast Telegraph:
“I no longer shore fish as there is no point, there’s nothing there. I had a small boat to fish from; there are days you’d go out, you’d be fishing all day and literally you’d catch nothing.”
He went on to add:
“Prawns are thriving, lobsters are thriving and they’re holding that up as a successful model. The reason they are doing well is that the cod are gone, the haddock are gone, the plaice are gone — all the fish that delivered a high revenue are gone.
The predators have all been removed out of the food chain. The dogfish are thriving as they’re scavengers and there’s more food for them. But you’ll end up with a sea full of lobsters and prawns and dogfish and no fin fish. Our entire marine environment is out of balance as far as fin fish go.”
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